Simmer Down

Above you see the mantra (not to say the anthem) of the old white guy. This is his answer to anything when things are moving fast and getting bunched up. Just simmer down. Like all these old saws, it has its place.

A look at the pictures I’ve sent out will give you what I walked into when I returned from a very satisfying and restful Thanksgiving week with my daughter and her wife. It grabbed me by the throat. Still, I found the habit and memory to say, “Simmer down.”

What, though, does this actually look like in real life. Is it just a matter of moving slowly, or shoving back the urge to try to do everything at once? I get my cue from the UCONN Women’s Basketball Team. When things start going badly, they bear down on defense and one or another of them steps up to meet the challenge. It’s not like they haven’t been playing defense all game, but someone always adds a little more. The coach gives them different things to do, and this seems to release one of them. Now, they may still lose the game. There are a lot of good teams out there, and they too can step up. It’s just that no one feels that they left some of the game on the floor.

If I don’t run around like a chicken with its head cut off, keep my head about me, and play it all out, I’ll have simmered down.