I’m the youngest in a family of 5 children. My sister is the oldest, 3 brothers, and then myself. As I grew older, I admired my mother for many things. She was a hard working mom, but always had time for her children, and her grandchildren. I remember growing up, that my mother worked for an airline. We were able to travel many places like Hawaii, Disneyland in its first years of existence, San Francisco, Boston and Washington DC. I remember my mother stopping and smelling the flowers. I love to spend time with my grandchildren smelling the flowers.
I remember learning to cook and found a recipe for cookies. I was probably about 14 at the time and was home alone. I started putting the ingredients into the bowl and mixing them together. On my mothers recipe card were the letters BP. After searching through the spice cupboard, the only thing I could find was black pepper. Just as I was about to put it in the cookie dough, my cute mom came in and asked what I was doing. Upon explanation, she started to chuckle, and kindly explained that the BP stood for baking powder. I have a cute 8 year old granddaughter that has always liked to help in the kitchen. I think it’s time I share my cooking stories about my mother with my grandchildren.
My family went camping to Yellowstone National Park every year during the week of July 24th. My mom would prepare for weeks before the vacation was to begin making several kinds of cookies. During the several days spent at the campsite, she would quietly invite one of the grandchildren over to her trunk to “sneak” a cookie out of the tupperware container. As the grandchildren have grown and we sit around talking about their grandma, the children all laugh as they recall the camping trips and each one thought they were the “special child” the only one that their grandma shared her cookies with. Finding out that every grandchild was quietly called to the trunk for a cookie was no surprise to any of them as their grandma was a very special grandma. I want each of my grandchildren to think they are the”special child”. And for that moment, they will be.