Hey Neighbor! Lets have tea...

Tea with my neighbor had been 'brewing' for quite awhile. For those of you who followed my Clean Start challenge, you will remember a neighbor who was thrilled that I reached out to her, but before she could enlist my good services, she wanted to get to know me and my daughter over tea and crumpets.
So a week ago today, after picking up my daughter from school, we rushed to get those last minutes tidbits and hurried home to welcome our guest. I was so nervous because I was throwing a tea party without a tea pot. I know what you are thinking... my grandmother and my mother would be flabbergasted and find it quite appalling as well. They would probably say..."Have we taught you child nothing?" Here is my dilemma. I grew up with a mother who knew how to throw a tea party like you had never had one before. She didn't lift a finger because we had three cooks, the English china was so beautiful that I thought it had been made just for her, and here I was in my apartment with no tea pot. My motto is: It is either the best or nothing at all.
I apologised for my nontraditional tea but we were so ecstatic over meeting each other that my tea pot worries vanished in the moment.
My neighbor is a 68 year old married woman with two children. She has lived in Watertown for 36 years, 30 of which have been in my neighborhood. The adage: Age is just a number, holds true in her case. She is vibrant, witty, energetic, adventurous, funny and a joy to be around. We talked about our lives, our families and brainstormed about the launch of a neighborhood committee and upcoming block party. We covered a lot of ground and knew that we were off to a great start. She took interest in my daughter's studies and marveled at her maturity, eloquence and poise. What touched me the most about their interaction was her encouragement of my daughter's dream of becoming a doctor.
When the evening wound down, she informed me that she doesn't normally have people over her house but since she had met such "wonderful and gracious neighbors," I was welcome into her home. "I would never have told anyone about this but after watching an Oprah show about the lives of hoarders, I realised that I am a hoarder. So when you reached out to me, I felt that for the first time, I could share this with someone" was an earlier confession of hers.
Our next task is to de-clutter her home. 
As I walked her home, I couldn't help but smile at the thought that our tea party had evolved into a kinship of sorts. It transcended cultural, racial and religious divides. She is Caucasian and Jewish. I am African and a born again Christian. Never under estimate what something as small as tea can do to make a difference in someone's life. So, the next time you bump into your neighbor, you might want to say, "Hey Neighbor! Lets have tea."