Sunday, November 14, 2010

Got Gravy?

We're not very good at listening are we? And yet it's one of the greatest gifts we can give one another. I remember childhood Sunday dinners at my grandmother's house, where potatoes were always on the menu.

As I recall, she would create a well in the top of the mashed potatoes. It was a protected space used to hold the butter or the gravy.

Well, that's exactly what good listening does. It creates a protected space and shelter for the words, thoughts, and feelings of the person you're listening to. May we all remember to create such sacred spaces for one another!

5 comments:

Blue Eyed Ennis said...

This brought back some childhood memories for me too- we had "poundies" - just like your photo but the potatoes had chopped spring onions in them or scallions as the Irish call them. Delicious.
Nice analogy too !!
Blessings.

ROBERTA said...

What you are describing is "colcannon" in Ireland. Quite delicious!!!

Sherry Peyton said...

Roberta, such a lovely blog, and I'll add it to my reader! You may want to check out my other blog at http://witshadows.wordpress.com which is Catholic from a progressive standpoint. Also I don't know if you know that many of my blogroll under "religious sources" are Episcopal...yearning for God and a few others. Thanks for stopping by!

I thought colcannon was mashed taters and cabbage? no? hehe...well I made that once, and I sure liked it!

Jan said...

This reminds me of a contentious discussion in Bellingham last summer when my husband's family was together. This was before his dad had gotten new hearing aids and so at that time could not hear much. There was arguments about politics, and suddenly Grandpa said, "These mashed potatoes and gravy are really good!" That stopped everyone in their tracks!

ROBERTA said...

Jan, this just goes to show the magical powers of spuds!