Becoming a Soothing Presence

I begin to wonder what to do with all the cucumbers from the garden. I’m picking two or three a day, and I’m not prepared for this.

I have dreams of pickling, but I also want to do something with all these pickles before the end of the afternoon. We want cucumber salad!

We thinly slice them, add rice vinegar, a little sugar, and dill.

I learn that the name for the herb “dill” comes from a Norse word meaning to soothe. Eating dill apparently soothes.

I like that. We need a little soothing today. (By the way, I love words that sound like their definition. Soothe sounds soothing in the same way that crackle sounds crackly. . . I digress.) I haven’t used the word soothe in over a year, maybe longer.

Soothe means to gently calm.

As we eat my cucumber salad, I wonder about the word. Lately, I’ve notice how anxiety producing our environment can become. I wonder just how many soothing activities I invite my family into during any given day. With all my energy and talking and scheduling, am I even a soothing presence in their lives at all?  It’s a nice summer challenge to think about being a woman with a soothing presence.

Some things do soothe: walks in the woods, gazing at flowers, reading, long dinner conversations, leisurely baths, and drawn-out tuck-ins.

Living with flair means I learn to be a soothing–not anxiety producing–presence.

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What did your own mother do to soothe?

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0 Responses

  1. Heather. Serious question here. I am growing cucumbers too — first time. I picked a long one yesterday to cut up and it was so bitter I couldnt eat it. When do you know they are ripe?
    rupzip@ gee mail dot com

  2.  Dear David,
    I have no idea! I think bitterness might be a sign it's been on the vine too long, or maybe just the opposite! I pick mine when they are about one foot long. Hope this helps!!