Balm

Inspirational song: Mother (Pink Floyd)

Nothing about today went as expected. I didn't get any of my usual Wednesday cleaning done. We didn't hold game night at the house. And I didn't put in a appearance at the Rotary social, even though I really intended to. One of my inner circle sustained an injury overnight (yes, that's vague on purpose), and I spent the day trying to figure out whether rushing over with dinner was being too smothering, or showing just the right amount of care. I was told it was okay to bring food, so I was off to the races.

Because of the nature of the injury, I guessed that crunchy or chewy food wouldn't be welcomed. I had a big tray of pork chops from Costco just begging to be cooked, so I made a crockpot version of sweet and sour pork. Slow cooking meant the meat was fall-apart tender, and the sauce was packed with flavor without being mouth-burningly spicy. I got the sauce and the pork started, and then ran out to King Soopers for everything I lacked. I made a double batch so we could have it for dinner too. You can't imagine how good the car smelled, driving this stuff around. 

I decided I also wanted to try again with angel food cake (again, Costco quantities, this time of eggs). My oven is still, well, my oven, and I took all the ingredients over to my daughter's to bake the cake (and play with kids). She also had a spare crockpot we could give away with the food. I brought mine over to finish slow cooking, and then split off three servings worth to take to the injured party. 

When the Mr and I arrived with the food, I was glad I chose the things I did. Our person had a huge bruise, a swollen face, and cuts inside the cheek where it hit teeth. Soft food was the right call. We stayed long enough to hear about what happened, but it was obvious they weren't feeling up to animated conversation. I wish I could take away the pain of the whole thing, but my mothering instinct had to be restrained to just feeding and limiting how much energy Mr S-P got to take up making them be social. It was already a rough week for everyone there, and this injury didn't make it any better. I'd like to go back and do more for them, but I'll wait until they've had a chance to get their bearings at least.