“I’m a little teapot, short and stout.
Here is my handle, here is my spout”
Clarence Kelley, 1939
I have always been a tea drinker. At some point in my early twenties I decided that if I was going to be a “tea drinker,” then I should probably move past putting a tea bag in mug. I needed to get a teapot. There were many options out there, but I wanted something classic. At the time, I had a part time job at the mall. While on a lunch break I discovered someone selling Polish Pottery at an Art Show.
I fell in love with a little teapot with yellow and blue swirls. The pattern was called “jazz,” and it cost more than I should have spent at the time. I used that teapot everyday for at least 15 years. Many times I made multiple pots of tea a day. It was a real work horse. If my house were to burn down, I would have probably grabbed that pot as one of the things I would have wanted to save.
Sadly, one day it developed a ever growing crack, and I had to stop using it. When I left St. Vincent de Paul, a friend form SVdP was kind enough to buy me a replacement. It was a beautiful blue and white pot that meant a lot to me. Sadly it didn’t last as long as my first. Both teapots meant so much to me that I could not throw them away. So I turned them into planters. That way they can bring me joy long into the future.
This wasn’t the end of my Polish Teapots though. My wife gave me a pot with a peacock print for last Christmas. It is not the pot I bought in poverty. It is not the pot from my friend. It is the pot from my love. I enjoy every cup that I brew in it.
