By First full week of recovery. The sling is uncomfortable. Sleeping is uncomfortable. Eating is uncomfortable. Showering is impossible without help — Hannah helps. The indignities of recovery are real and the indignities are an interruption of a life I am normally able to control by myself. Hannah is patient. The patience is a kind of love. I am trying to receive the love without complaint.
Caleb came Monday and Wednesday and Saturday. He brought food each time. Hannah's sister Marcia drove down from Joplin Friday for the weekend to help. Lily came up Sunday with Ada and Quoy. The house had more people in it than usual. The people did the work I could not do. They cooked. They cleaned. They walked the property line for me. They watered the garden.
The garden, by the way, did not stop. The garden is producing more than it ever has and I cannot harvest it. Hannah has been doing what she can in the mornings. River and Lucia drove down Saturday for an emergency picking — three hours in the garden, came in with bushels. Lucia made a tomato soup from the surplus that I ate two bowls of. River walked me through what they'd picked. He said: we got most of it, Dad. Some will go to compost. I said: that's fine. He said: yeah. He said: it's fine for things to go to compost sometimes. I said: yes.
The pain medication I am tapering off slowly. Dr. Watt said to use it as needed and to step down. I'm halfway down by week's end. The shoulder hurts but the hurt is healing-hurt, not damage-hurt, and the difference matters.
I lay in the recliner Sunday afternoon with my eyes closed and listened to the house. Hannah and Marcia were in the kitchen. Lily and Ada and Quoy were on the porch. The dogs were at my feet. I thought: this is the rest. This is what I would have called soft if I were younger and judgmental. It's not soft. It's the body healing in a house full of people who are doing the work for it.
Lucia’s tomato soup was the thing that cut through everything that week — the discomfort, the fog, the strange grief of not being able to work my own land. She made it from what River and she pulled out of the garden, and she served it with a cooked salad dressing on the side that reminded me food doesn’t have to be complicated to be exactly right. This is that kind of dressing: old-fashioned, made on the stovetop, the sort of thing someone who loves you makes without being asked.
Cooked Salad Dressing
Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 15 min | Total Time: 25 min | Servings: 12
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1/2 cup white vinegar
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 tablespoon butter
Instructions
- Combine dry ingredients. In a small saucepan, whisk together the sugar, flour, dry mustard, salt, and paprika until evenly mixed.
- Add wet ingredients. Whisk in the beaten eggs, white vinegar, and water until smooth and no lumps remain.
- Cook over medium heat. Place the saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and begins to bubble, about 10–12 minutes. Do not walk away — the eggs will scramble if the heat is too high or the stirring stops.
- Finish with butter. Remove from heat and stir in the butter until fully melted and incorporated.
- Cool and store. Pour into a clean jar or container. Let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate. The dressing will thicken further as it chills. Keeps for up to two weeks in the refrigerator.
- Serve. Drizzle over leafy greens, sliced tomatoes, or alongside a bowl of tomato soup. Stir before using if it has been sitting.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 55 | Protein: 1g | Fat: 2g | Carbs: 9g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 110mg