Getting Real With Wanda Morrissey
My mom was always baking. There were always fresh baked cookies, squares, cakes and other goodies in the house while I was growing up. It wasn’t until I got older that I realized how lucky I was.
I took it for granted that when I went to the cupboard that there would be chocolate chip cookies, Lazy Daisy squares or something in there for me to snack on. But that’s not what I wanted. I wanted the Oreos, Fudgee-o’s and Little Debbie cakes that all my classmates had in their lunches. It wasn’t until I was in junior high school and I had a friend over that I realized how lucky I was. As we raided the cupboard for Mom’s fresh baked goodies, my friend said she wished that her mom baked for her. I told her that I wished my mom would buy more Oreos. She told me that I was crazy, that I was lucky to have a mom that baked and that the store bought stuff was nowhere near as good as homemade. That conversation changed how I viewed my mom and baking and I started to bake, too.
It’s years later and now my mother-in-law tells my son how lucky he is to have a mom that bakes. Even though he’s only 3, he’s gotten used to having a batch of fresh baked cookies in the cookie jar. He’s never had a store bought cake. Like me, he’ll probably take it for granted and want the store bought stuff. But maybe someday he’ll have a friend who’ll tell him what my friend told me.