is it done yet?

During this season of Advent, I've asked myself to be mindful of moments of waiting, and to be cognizant of how I respond while writhing in the midst of that agonizing anticipation. To see if I could, hopefully, arrive at a calmer, more spiritual, meditative, reflective sense of being during Advent. Hopefully inhabit my moments of anticipation with more poise and elegance, with more maturity than recently displayed.

I keep thinking, what if we did not know the beginning of the Christmas story. What if we did not know who was born at the end of that bright shining star in Bethlehem? What if we did not know the road to Egypt and back? What if we did not hear the stories told in the temples, in our ears, in our (aaack!) hearts?

If we did not know, would we be so quick to push to the "end"? If we did not know how the story ends, would we be so eager to reach the denouement? Would we be so excited to find out what happens on "Christmas eve"?

At the office, we used to have the old kettle that my boss always used to boil water for his tea. It works fine, but I would say it's at least 5-6 years old. The inside is so rusted, I'm surprised no one's gotten stomach cancer or ulcer or something from it. Then, the lid cracked, and it was getting a bit disgusting so I brought in a hot water thermos thingy. With this new thermos, whenever you fill it with water, it automatically boils the water without you having to push any buttons and then keeps it warm until whenever you want a refreshing cup of tea. It's great. I love it.

But, the old kettle, no matter how rusted, would click audibly whenever the water's done boiling. I would be sitting at my desk and, *click*, and hot water's ready. I'm ready for my organic blackberry tea, or the occasional Ginger Sun. Boss is ready for his Earl Grey. Lovely.

But, this new thermos thing doesn't tell you when the water's done boiling. It doesn't whistle, it doesn't ping, it doesn't yell. Nothing. I just have to wait and wait and wait. Sometimes, I get up and go check it out, but it's still bubbling and broiling but not done. On several occasions, I would check twice before it finally boils over. It gives me no clues whatsoever to tell me that I should wait 2 minutes, 5 minutes, or even 10 minutes.

What's worse, the thermos thing is kept in this little kitchenette outside my office, and even though it's right there, I can't see it. I know that it's there, but I can't see it to know whether or not it's done. So I wait.

And in this waiting, I've learned a few things to make my tea experience better. I've learned not to expect the *click* from the old kettle. I've learned that no matter how much you time it, sometimes I miscalculate. I've learned to listen for the different sounds of boiling water that you can pick up with just one attentive ear. And I've learned that good tea takes quite a bit of time to prepare, and boiling water is a part of that process.

So, let's make tea!!