Blame it on the Tea.
So my Tea called Life is starting to take hold. Where it will bring me I have no idea, it's almost like i just hoped on this train with no clue of its destination. Letting the wind blow me where it needs to as i sit back and fish off the stern. I started a business! Yup. Beach bum, van living, wander lust vagabond Walker started a business. Well in the eyes of Uncle Sam I started a business; I've actually got nothing to show for it besides a handful of cute little business cards. But everyone starts their journey with one little step right? So the pot is starting to boil, preferably a slow simmer for the next few stages, until I get my entrepreneurial / spiritual bearings in order, or the End of the World scare comes and goes...which ever comes first. Tea has been my entrance ticket, my magic carpet, my chariot of sorts for the last several years, slowing me down and bringing me face to face with the Other. It's just a passion to share with people, something to do with others, a time to listen, a time to speak, a time of solo contemplation, an excuse to connect all our little eager souls bouncing around inside our clumsy bodies. The conduit of connection. Yah, Facebook, and e-mail, and cell phones, and messenger pigeons connect humanity.......but so does a delicious healthy ancient beverage called Camellia sinensis, if you're latin (or Cha if you're Chinese, or Itiye if you're Zulu, or Tea if you're English).
"The Walking Root" it's called. At first, ideally, I would like it to be an in-house full tea service (Chinese style), giving the costumer some basic knowledge of the tea plant and production, and then taste and enjoy the 5 main types of tea: White, Green, Oolong, Black and Pu-er. Most people don't even know they are all from the same damn plant (camellia sinensis). It would be sort of like a private chef coming into your house to make you dinner, but it would be a 2 hour authentic tea ceremony instead. If they can walk away with learning something new, expanding their tea taste, connecting with other humanoids, or a smile, then all will be just fine. Eventually a relaxing, garden style Tea house where people can come to connect and gather (i.e. for revolutionary meetings or whatever) over quality tea is what it will evolve into. The Walking Root: a balance of opposites, a wandering grounding per se. What holds you steady in the midst of chaos? What is your center in this frantic "efficient" society? That is your path, your "route"? What roots your soul as you walk through this hustled world? It could be yoga, could be meditation, could be surfing, could be tea or even antique stamp collecting for all its worth; but we need that one thing that really gets Us reconnected with where we are and who we are. For me its tea. As my good buddy Mason London says "Walker, it all comes back to the tea. We have our dramas and excitement, our sadness and joys, but it all comes back to the tea." He also said "hell, I'll try anything twice"; but that's another story. So as I sit here at the starting line of the sticky road of commerce, the capitalistic slimy hot tub, the money lust lounge on the Devil's back porch; I stick the tip of my toe in that huge pool, just to test the waters, knowing damn well its full of old urine and China made plastic duckies. But that's what this modern world is made of and as long as I keep one foot in the soulful soil to satiate my real existence then I'll be as happy as a clam at high tide, as they say in Maine.
