National Sweet Tea Day!
Here in North Carolina, we make no bones about it, we love our sweet tea. Even though Tea is thought to have originated in southeast China during the Shang Dynasty some thousands of years ago, Grandmas moms, and even dads all over the south continue to brew up their own version of the classic drink for their families to enjoy.
One of the best memories I have growing up revolve around tea. During the summer break from school I would step out onto our huge wooden back deck only to find a huge jug of tea basking in the sun just waiting for the right time to be taken inside and sweetened up to serve. I would play outside all day with my friends around the neighborhood. Every so often, I would remember the big Jug sitting on the edge of the deck railing, and as the heat of the summer day would grow and grow I would think how nice a big glass of that sun tea would be. Finally, I would start making up reasons to run home only to ask my mom if the sun tea was ready yet - and time after time she would say no not yet. Until finally she would call me home when dinner was ready and there sitting at our picnic table was the biggest glass of my mom's homemade sun tea that an 8-year-old child could have ever imagined. My family would all sit down and enjoy the tea and dinner that my mother worked so hard to prepare. I can remember her smiling and saying “dinner was some work but the sun did all the work for the tea." And for a few summer nights for an eight-year-old child it seemed that all was right with the world and time seemed to stand still while my family ate those dinners.
Since today is sweet tea day, we encourage you to make your own memories with the ones you love. Pour glasses of homemade tea for the ones that mean the most to you just the way your grandma or mom made it and stop time. No matter how old you are take today as a simple reminder that some small things in life are the ones that mean the most. Even as small as a glass of sweet tea.
Enjoy National Sweet Tea Day!