The woman we bought the house from owned it for over twenty years. During that time her mother bought a place in the country in south Georgia named “Peace and Plenty” (which she inherited after her mother passed away and where she lives now).
Not wanting her own house to be without a name (there is something romantic and nostalgic about old houses in the South having names–not that ours is nearly as old as Tara or Monticello) she christened it “Tea and Sympathy.” I loved it the minute I heard it and thought it would be a fitting name for this blog.
Coincidentally, after a quick Google search it also looks like ”Tea and Sympathy” is the name of a restaurant in New York, a Broadway play that was turned into a movie in the 1950’s (I’ll have to check that out), and songs by Janis Ian and Jars of Clay. Also, and this is my favorite, the definition of the phrase “tea and sympathy” according to the idioms page on thefreedictionary.com states:
tea and sympathy (old-fashioned)
kindness and sympathy that you show to someone who is upset.Sometimes people want practical advice and sometimes they just want tea and sympathy.
I like to think that we’re attempting to show this house some old-fashioned kindness and sympathy. 
