In general, I call her every night, and we talk for an hour, which is forty-five minutes of me, and fifteen minutes of her stirring her tea, which she steeps with the kind of Zen patience that would make Buddhists sit up in envy and then breathe through their envy and then move past their envy.
The narrator describes a nightly phone call routine with a woman, where most of the conversation is dominated by his thoughts and stories. The woman, in contrast, contributes minimally to the conversation, often taking time to prepare her tea, which highlights her calm and patient demeanor. Her slow and deliberate approach to steeping the tea stands in stark contrast to the narrator's more hurried style of communication.
This moment reflects not only the dynamics of their relationship but also serves as a meditation on mindfulness. The woman's Zen-like patience with her tea preparation evokes admiration and suggests a deeper understanding of presence and simplicity, which the narrator seems to appreciate, despite his tendency to fill the silence with his own words.
