What happens while Worryin' the Beans

In visiting family in West Virginia one of my favorite things to do is to cook. Ok, I take that back, when visiting with anyone one of my favorite things is to cook, to learn to cook local foods. And I am very fortunate that my father-in-law is an excellent Southern cook and who is willing to teach me some of his cooking methods. I can now make some mean biscuits and ramps (if I could get my hands on some) and the ultimate southern food that comes into our homes, beans. Cooking beans goes something like this. Sort the beans. Rinse the beans. Poor the beans into a pot of water (I add black pepper at this time as I like the pepper to release the heat from the cooking). Boil the water and beans until the beans float. When the beans float turn off the heat. When the beans all sink again turn the beans onto a low simmer. Walk away and worry the beans. Go for a hike and worry the beans. Have lunch and worry the beans. Go looking for ramps and worry the beans. Are you worryin' the beans? What does that mean... while you're out hiking did you leave the heat on too high? Did you add enough water? Will they be done in time for dinner? Will they be over done and burnt? You have a lot to worry about while you're away and with proper worryin' the beans will come out just fine. Yesterday, I worried the beans all day--excecpt I didn't make beans. I'm worrying about one special person. My #1 son. There's so much to worry about: is he over tired? Why didn't he eat yesterday? How much homework are we doing? How much screen time is he getting? Is he sad and missing his poppa? Will he be too tired for swimming? Do I let him skip it or push him to go because we committed to it? How is school going? Does he have enough friends? Well, yesterday at least, I worried enough to enjoy a perfect pot of beans. I couldn't step away from my phone or email all day worryin' I'd get a message from school or my mom his care provider for the day. But I got home and the child was a smile from ear to ear. Not only did I get positive reports all afternoon (when I checked in) he had made it to swimming and his coach had invited him to join swim club! I could not be more excited for him. We're a swimming family--tubing during the summer whenever possible and getting as much lake time in as possible. And he's not exactly shown a tremendous amount of athleticism or interest in many areas. So to get an invitation to the swim club was one large spoonful of delicious well worried beans. Delicious parenting moment.