Finding Braja

On our last day in Charleston we had breakfast at Saffron, a bakery/deli/cafe at the edge of the historic district. When we sat down, the server asked if she could bring us something to drink, "Coffee? Juice? Soda?"

I gave up drinking coffee almost a year ago, and so I said I wanted ice water and asked if she had green tea. She said she didn't know but they had lots of tea and she'd go look. When she came back she had two teabag envelopes that she put down in front of me to see if either one would work.

The first one I looked at said "Green Tea with Jasmine." When it comes to green tea I'm a bit of a snob (though I'm not above using a tea bag to brew it), so I rejected the jasmine. The second envelope said "Pure Green/Supports Vitality." I said that's the one I wanted, so she picked up both and walked away from the table. Looking back over her shoulder, she asked "You want water with that, right?"

I had one of those disconnect moments but felt quite ascetic as I pondered how I might have tea without water.

When she came back she had a pot of hot water, the tea bag and a glass of ice water. I took the tea bag out of the envelope and put it in the pot of water. After about two minutes I went to remove the teabag, but the tag at the end of the string came off in my fingers. I turned it over in my hand and both noticed there was a fortune written on one side and felt a presence.

The fortune said "Without realizing who you are, happiness cannot come to you." Then I looked back at the envelope that had held the tea bag and for the first time noticed the brand. It was "Yogi." And then I understood. Somehow, I had made a connection with the lovely blogging Yogini from half way around the world. You may not have been aware, Braja, but you gave me something to think about that morning.