Dear Tea Kettle

Dear tea kettle,

Today you broke and I’m not surprised. I guess I stopped making tea at some point so I didn’t expect you to be on the stove.

You always did make the water pretty well and balanced for the leaves- but your spout was falling off for a few months and there were seared brown and black marks memories of past brews all over your insides so I kinda stopped using you- but that didn’t matter, you still made good tea.

Remember that time your handle got burnt? It didn’t look very pretty after, but it still held you together on the stove.

There was talk among the tea cups and mugs that you were  breaking, but I didn’t think they were  right.

“It doesn’t matter how it looks, as long as it makes tea right?”

So we moved  once or twice (actually three times)  and you were there, broken and all. Eventually, your spout got a little torn and well, you stopped whistling. But you still made good tea; it didn’t matter that you couldn’t whistle. It wasn’t that big of a deal. “Some people don’t have tea kettles at all,” I thought.

“At least I have one that boils water.”

I forgot to say thank you, for making me tea, you know that one time I was so anxious I couldn’t go out of the house. Or the time I cried so hard but your sweet jasmine blend sutured my bittersweet sobbing.

But I guess I stopped making tea at some point because today you broke and I’m not surprised.

Entertaining myself with the pots and the plates, I knocked off your spout. And I’m sorry. I barely noticed  you there. "Dang it,” I thought.

“Now I have to get a new tea pot- what if I don’t find one that works?”

There you sat, shattered and splintered on the counter, no longer a- but wait! I can still boil water in it and it’s okay if it doesn’t whistle and the spout is gone and the handle is burnt and deformed and the inside is black and brown and-

and I stopped and thought, “Wait, you are really broken. I delivered  the final blow, but I did not break you. Your parts have been broken. Maybe I should get  a new tea kettle…”

 “But wait, I don’t need a tea kettle right now. I don’t want a new tea kettle.”

Maybe, you served your purpose, loyal and kind, making me tea when I didn’t deserve it. When I needed it most.

But now, I can make my own tea.

And so, while I don’t know what lies ahead for you, I know you have been a dear friend to me and maybe one day, you will house a plant or be recycled to build something even more beautiful.

And maybe, one day, I’ll get a new tea kettle. Not because I need it. But because I want it. Because I deserve a tea kettle that’s whole, one that I choose for myself.

So, goodbye tea kettle and thank you  for everything.