Once upon a time, there was a little girl who wanted a tea set. Oh, she'd wanted one for so long, she had. She wanted a real one that was her very own; one that had lots of dishes; one that had dainty cups she could drink from while lifting her pinky, just so, in the air.
Come her birthday, she got what she'd hoped for - a lovely tea set that had lots of dishes - even knives, forks, and spoons! It's cups, which were curiously shaped more like mugs, could hold a good swallow of tea.
Her very own tea set!
And she imagined her dishes were pretty - pretty, with flowers in soft girlie colors. She had to imagine it because, in real life, her lovely tea set wasn't decorated this way.
Her tea set was decorated with funny brown mushrooms.
Brown mushrooms!
A girl's very own tea set decorated with funny brown mushrooms?
Why?
Why brown mushrooms?
Why?
Oh, what was she to do, this little girl, whose heart had no answers to the brown mushroom questions?
Well, she was to love her brown mushroom tea set, that's what. Love it anyway. Love it as if it were covered with bouquets of pretty flowers in soft, girlie colors. She was to serve tea parties, lunches, and dinners on these miniature dishes of hers, and imagine that they were just as pretty as they were in her mind.
Then, when she'd grown past the tea party age, she was to let the younger cousins and kids have tea parties with it. Because she would be busy with school, a career, marriage, and she wouldn't have time for even a thought of the brown mushroom tea set for so many years.
But then, one day, this young woman, who'd once been that girl, would open a box that had been tucked away. Inside she'd find the brown mushroom tea set from so long ago. And in that moment, she would know. Without a shadow of doubt in her mind, she'd know.
She would know why.
Why the brown mushrooms. Why the cups, that were shaped more like mugs, were big enough to hold a good swallow of tea...
It was all because that little girl was now a Mama of boys.
All boys.
Only boys.
Three of them.
And they would need a brown mushroom tea set.
They would need to drink their tea out of cups that were shaped more like mugs.
And the Mama would now understand.
She would never have these photos, here, if that little girl long ago had opened a tea set decorated with bouquets of flowers in soft, girlie colors.
That's why.
Oh, that brown mushroom tea set!
It's the prettiest one she's ever seen.
