Beech Tree News Network

Friday afternoon, as my granddaughter and I were getting ready to make noodles with her new pasta machine, I questioned the consistency of the dough she was kneading.

“I don’t know, Sabria,” I said, “It look like it’s too dry.  Maybe I should add a little water.”

“Trust the process, Gee” Sabria said.

Pasta dough is basically flour and a bunch of eggs.  After kneading the dough for a few minutes more, Sabria said, “We don’t need water.  We need one more egg.”

We added another egg.  She was right.  The dough was the perfect consistency.  Later, I read in the pasta book that adding water can make the dough tough, so you have to be careful when doing so.  Sabria was the one kneading the dough.  I was just watching.  She could feel what was needed.

Saturday morning, I was trying to get a compression sock on the foot of Garey’s leg that is in the stiff leg brace that was added to his body when he broke his kneecap.  This particular compression sock was the toeless kind that comes to about midfoot before the rest goes up the leg.  As I was working the sock onto the foot, I accidentally left the pinky toe behind.

“Cheryl, you don’t have all the toes in the sock,” Garey said.

“Of course, I have all the toes in the sock,” I argued.

“Count em,” he said.  “There should be five.”

“I’m looking at them,” I said.  “One, two, three, four…oh wait, that last one is my ring finger that got stuck in the sock.  It’s so numb from trying to get this sock on your foot that I couldn’t feel it.”

Trying to prove what we feel that others cannot see has always been a challenge for most of us.  In the British mysteries that I watch, the detectives often remark, “I can’t put my finger on it, but something’s off.”  “Something’s off” is a feeling, a knowing that just knows without physical evidence.  Thank God for that knowing.  It’s kept many of us from going off a cliff, literally and figuratively.  

Some of the most gut-wrenching times I’ve ever been through have been the times when I knew a friend or family member was heading for trouble, but I couldn’t stop them.  In those cases, I tried to be careful about what I said, because I knew after the trouble, if I had been harsh or sanctimonious in my warning, they wouldn’t feel they could come to me for help.

I tried to keep a friend from leaving town with a guy she barely knew.  I didn’t really know the guy, but I felt like something was off about him the few times I was around him.  My friend was sure she was in love and that love would conquer all their problems.  The guy couldn’t hold a job, she became pregnant and had to become the bread winner, even after the child was born.  They returned to the area, with the child in tow.  She was pregnant again.  She told me she felt like she was in a hole she couldn’t get out of.  She was.  It took years for her life to get back on track.  Her children have, and still do suffer the consequences of her decision to join herself to that guy, making him a father they could never count on.

Knowing without knowing how you know can also result in positive outcomes.  When I was looking for someone to replace me at New Image (before we sold the business) I had one girl in mind.  I knew her as a customer, but I didn’t know anything else about her.  I will always be grateful that I took a chance on Angie.  She was perfect for the job, and she has become a good friend, as well—just ask my cats.  

Sometimes you just know that you know, and you need to trust yourself, as well as those who tell you the dough needs another egg, and you’ve left one of their toes behind.