The day after Tiny Baby J was born, I decided to do something special for his mommy. For crying out loud, she just gave birth at age 38! To a quite large infant! So I decided to bake her some cookies and take them to the hospital. Her favorite cookie growing up was homemade gingersnaps. I made them a lot. At a pretty young age she learned to bake cookies & baked them fairly regularly. She bakes a really good cookie. How I loved walking in the door to be greeted by the awesome aroma of gingersnaps in the oven.
Pinterest is my friend and I use it abundantly, but for these cookies I needed the exact same recipe that we used. It was quite a search, but I uncovered a plethora of interesting items in the process.
used to make her heart healthy casserole after she experienced some heart issues in the early 1980's. The circled items were her favorite combination. So yummy. Interestingly, my youngest daughter felt like she needed to autograph the recipe. Apparently using her "might be a doctor someday" signature. 😉
On the back of the recipe card our oldest daughter wrote us a note. In handwriting that might be used by someone trying to convince their parents that they have nothing to worry about. Was she home before 10:00? I would say she probably was. Had the youngest daughter written this note....hmmm. Maybe not so punctual with the 10pm bit. I could tell stories. I will not. You're welcome, youngest daughter. 😉
Finally found the long lost recipe. Does the book look familiar to any of you? I bet it does. The copyright date is 1968. I'm not certain but I think perhaps this was a bridal shower gift to me from my sister Lois. Maybe? It sustained a lot of maltreatment from the cooks in our home. Mainly the three of us females. The Mr. did use the book once. To bake oatmeal cookies while I was working evening shift. Abysmal failure. He cooked the oatmeal before adding it to the dough. I did actually consume one of the cookies. And lived to tell. Barely.
Check it out and drool: I wish I had one of these cookies right now. Mmmmmm good.
But this is the most special treasure I uncovered in my search for the recipe:
What is it, you ask? It's a shopping list written by my mom a few days before she entered the hospital and passed away. May of 1993. The last handwritten item I possess of hers. I love looking at her writing. I can see her hands as they wrote the words. I can hear her voice going over the list with me. Her hands touched this paper. Then handed the paper to me. Wow I miss her. It's just a shopping list, for goodness sake. Nostalgia can invade so unexpectedly.
Hand-written notes, hand-written anything is such a thing of the past. But I believe our handwriting has "voice" and is an extension of our heart. It's why I have such a hard time disposing of the multitudes of greeting cards we've received over the years.
Perhaps we should all take the time to write more notes to those we love. Hand-written. You never know the impact it could have one day when notes and photographs are as close as we can get to being in the same room again, close as a hug from the past.
And of course, it goes without saying, we all must eat more COOKIES!!
Mom had many notes to keep organized. Brilliance on paper.
ReplyDeleteYes she was. Her checkbook was impeccable too. I ended up with it after her passing.
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