20 Bucks

Once, when I was a kid, our church had a fund-raiser. Now I am sure that there were many fund-raisers, but since I was a child, I was blissfully unaware of them.

But this year was different.

This year, our church gave a $20.00 bill to everyone in our church (who wanted to participate I assume) and challenged them to use their (God-given) talents to multiply it as many times over as they could - sound familiar?

My father took his $20.00 and bought ingredients to make fudge and sold the delicious treat. He was a master fudge maker and made it over and over until one day he lost the touch :( He hasn't made fudge since. However, he multiplied his $20.00 over and over and my sister and I had a wonderful time licking the bowls of his success.

My mother took her $20.00 and pooled it with two of her best girl-friends and wrote a cookbook. Can you imagine?! "The Lunch Box Cookbook - packed by Carolyn, Judith and Cherie". It was a cookbook for moms with recipes for a kid-friendly school lunch: sandwiches, muffins, cookies, cakes, brownies, trail mix, etc, etc. It was a huge success, actually had a few printings and was sold as far as Manitoba and into the United States (relatives of course). My mother, ever the long-term planner, immediately tucked away two copies for her girls when they grew up.

So this afternoon I made chocolate chip/oatmeal cookies from The Lunch Box Cookbook - my all-time favorite cookie recipe. And I put the chocolate chips in last, regardless of what the recipe says, because that's what my mom does. And they are stored in one of her old cookie cans with wax paper to seal because that's what my mom does. And I listened to songs from Carousel and Guys and Dolls just as if I were at home. I had a great time.

This week I'm also pretending I'm Caroline Ingalls since our dryer has decided to take a vacation. While we are waiting for a part, I am drying my clothes on my grandmother's drying rack, the one my mom used for years and she gave it to me when I started out in my first apartment.

Talk about connecting with the women in my family tree!

Sandy