by Vera Shadle, Process Graduate, 1989
One of those old physical triggers from the past: At coffee hour after I sang at a church service, a little girl accidentally knocked over a (fortunately not full) pitcher of lemonade. I flinched automatically, bracing for the screaming of my long-dead mother.
Fortunately, my conscious mind caught up with the present just as quickly. I helped the little girl clean up the mess saying, “It’s all right. Adults spill things too.” She didn’t say anything to me, probably out of shyness, but it felt good to take deliberate protective action to spare her what I went through.
