I get up at the same time as my daughter every morning just so that I can eat breakfast with her (my husband, an early riser, has usually come and gone from the kitchen by the time we arise). Chris and I eat lunch with Mel every day that she's home, and en couple on days when she's at the office. The three of us have supper together every night. And we make a point to have meals with Shane when we can.

I enjoy every opportunity to break bread with my family, but my favourite repast of the day is a little dessert in the evening, shared en famille. Tonight, Chris and I enjoyed a toasted scone, lightly buttered and topped with chokecherry jelly (in my case) and maple syrup (in his case). I drank a hot decaf café au lait (half coffee and half a mixture of Oatly barista beverage and skim milk) and Chris drank cold, skim milk. As usual, we played Jeopardy while savouring every crumb of our dessert.

It reminded me of a poem attributed to William Gladstone that recently came across my social media feed:

When the world is all at odds

And the mind is all at sea,

Then cease the useless tedium

And brew a cup of tea.

There is magic in its fragrance,

There is solace in its taste;

And the laden moments vanish

Somehow into space.

And the world becomes a lovely thing!

There’s beauty as you’ll see;

All because you briefly stopped

To brew a cup of tea.

There is, indeed, beauty in this world, all because I stopped to toast a scone and share it with my sweet.