Effervescent
The text comes through while I’m at work: “Can you watch…?” And before I even fully absorb the details of when my great granddaughter needs childcare, I’m responding with a resounding YES!
We arrange a pick-up time on a frigid afternoon, and I watch the dried Teasel specters in the fields as I imagine all the fun we will have. Avani runs to me with two pink bows perched on her head with her arms up in the universal declaration of love as she squeals “GEEGEEE!” My heart, worried she would be shy or scared after not seeing me for months, melts into the soles of my Converse. Children are glorious.
Co-op Kiddo Arya, daughter of our Category Manager, Estrella P.
I remember pockets of joy in my childhood, like being on a rolling hill outside of the daycare center of Dominges Hills where my mom attended classes. The teachers had brought the rainbow-colored parachute with them, and we all were giddy with anticipation. We formed a squirming circle as each of us grabbed the rim of the fabric. The teacher would yell UP, and we’d all raise our hands toward the sky to create a bubble of brilliant colors framed by white clouds, craning our heads up to look at the magic. Then swooshing down to trap air as we expertly stepped inside the dome we created to sit on the edge—giggling across the circle at each other. We’d continue with other tricks like teachers calling out two names of children to dash across the circle under the canopy and exchange places, or “popcorn” as the teachers would release countless rubber balls onto the top of the parachute, and like kernels on a hot skillet, we would rattle and bounce them with our rigorous flapping. And there’s this moment when it feels like our spirit becomes as buoyant as that bright red ball because we are all gleeful as one. It’s a lift in your chest and an ease in your knees that just breathes lightness.
Chasing that feeling of shared joy has brought me to countless choirs, marches and protests, concerts and dances, but it wasn’t until recently that I discovered it has a perfect name: collective effervescence. Émile Durkheim is attributed with first using this term in his 1912 book “Elementary Forms of Religious Life” to describe the spectrum of experiences, good and bad, that can create the physical sense of elation when gathered in a group with shared intent. Today’s world offers us more and more examples of how this plays out, perhaps more examples of the negative impact of individuals over-stressed searching for something to unite them and settling on less noble means than parachute play in a park.
Fortunately for me, I get to spend at least 40 hours a week in a local oasis where, even as the outside world follows me through the doors, there is a shield of collective effervescence that filters out some of the harshness. There are countless attributes of the Co-op that I appreciate, one of my favorites is our youngest shoppers: the Co-op kids. From bundles worn wrapped to towering teens, it’s a headspinner to see people literally grow up as their parents go from buying chamomile for teething to acne creams in what feels like a heartbeat—myself included.
Wellness is sometimes an area that parents dread, either because they have been sent to retrieve a remedy while a child suffers or because they know every small glass bottle is a beacon for curious hands to clutch. We have a small section dedicated to the young, tried and true herbal helpers like Herb Pharm’s ear oil and more conventional options like Genexa’s dye and preservative-free acetaminophen. Shepard Moon’s oatmeal bath soak and Clean Kids shampoo are popular, locally made body care items for kids.
As the weather warms and cramped kids burst outside, their small bodies sometimes have big issues. Herbal teas can offer a gentler nudge for help with allergies, anxieties, and those sleep struggles when the sun refuses to set before nine o’clock. Our bulk department also offers lovely ways to try small amounts of organic herbs like Nettle, Lemon Balm, and Chamomile. Nettle is mineral-rich with a mild grassy flavor. Lemon Balm can be calming, helping with “nervous belly,” and Chamomile has long been used to help wind down. As always, do your research to make sure these are safe options for your family.
Sweetened with a drizzle of local honey, they are a nice mellow trio sipped either hot or cold. These three herbs are also easy to grow and find locally. Stinging Nettle is a great introduction for kids about the importance of plants that are sometimes labeled as problematic. I mean, they do sting. Blooming plants with buzzing bees are heralded as good for pollinators, but we sometimes forget that pollinators also need plants with fuzzy lil’ beds to lay their eggs on. Nettles provide exactly that to several butterfly species in Washington and beyond. Maybe those stings aren’t so bad once we know they might be guarding baby bugs.
For me, a kid in Wellness is an honored guest. I pick a four year-old over a forty year-old any time, any place.
You may be a big deal, but that toddler with kitten booties and a quilted vest? I’d follow her anywhere. I think most of my co-workers are equally enamored with little ones. Avani and I went in search of apples and bananas only to be welcomed with the warmest smiles and encouragement from staff in every department we visited. She was given gifts and a banana card (ask any staff about them if you’re curious), along with compliments on her pink glittery boots, and left feeling like she indeed owns that store.
And that makes sense—because food co-ops exist due to a simple hope for a different type of commerce to inform a future with different priorities rather than just profit. Most parents worry about what the world will look like as their children grow and eventually fly solo. Some parents have worked really hard to ensure some alternatives to the norms; cooperatives are that labor of love. Buying organic produce isn’t just about supporting a farm that doesn’t use potentially harmful pesticides and isn’t just about getting a delicious vegetable—it’s about protecting the water and the workers. It’s being willing to pay a bit more because you care a bit more for people, whether that’s the person who wakes at dawn to harvest or a great grandchild that you may never meet. It’s not radical to wish health and happiness to strangers that share nothing with you except the desire to thrive. It’s not political to understand the urge to protect those you love. And it’s certainly not strange to hold to the fleeting hope that someday again you’ll look out and catch the glint in someone’s eye as their hearts lift in unison with yours over a shared joyful experience that is founded simply in the notion that we are all more alike than we are different.
