Day 7 - Cookies and Life Lessons

Good with the Bad

After yesterday, I feel a little hypocritical following my healthy nugget with this sinful delicacy, but you have to let loose once in a while. 

I'm good at a variety of things, but none compare to my cookie making abilities. This is the super-special, super-secret recipe of a woman so famous for these particular cookies, they were named for her. (No, not Mrs. Fields.) I won't name her for privacy reasons, but if you've tasted these before, you know her name; it melts over your tongue like a piece of warm, chocolatey cookie.  I studied under her for 10 years perfecting the "from scratch, by hand" technique and committing the secrets to memory. All the ingredients are specific and a secret. The process and technique are specific and a secret. 

Why all the secrecy? and Why was I honored with this knowledge? 

'Cuz these cookies are slap-yo-momma, life-changing cookies. 

I earned this recipe. I literally spent hours upon days upon weeks upon months and years in her purple kitchen, savoring every moment. Every big world problem or small me problem SOLVED. Any discord in the friend group was, around the table, SOLVED. Any faltering moment in my college journey, SOLVED. The worlds deepest mysteries, SOLVED. Loneliness  SOLVED. Companionship, SOLVED. Mentoring, SOLVED. My growing up process, any teenage/college-age angst, SOLVED. Right there in her kitchen, in her heart. That's where I grew up. That's where my life was molded. These are yummy cookies, and these cookies DID change my life. Helped make me who I am.

Now 3,000 miles away from my family and friends I sat with my glass of milk and savored this little taste of home. I can have them whenever I want, because I make them, but it's still a sweet memory. Days sitting around her house talking and baking, talking and eating and talking. Good 'ol days. It's been years since I've last put my arms around this woman, but circles overlap for a time and then they don't. We move on, loose touch as the saying goes, "Nothing lasts forever". We keep in touch via the occasional Facebook photo/comment 'Like'. I'm not sad. We have our own lives and we are both happy. We have new friends and endeavors to pursue. I know if I needed something, she'd be there. And I always have those lessons. The cooking, and the talking. Her investment in me is maturing nicely. 

So thanks, you.