My mom taught me many important lessons. The most important one I learned when I was only four years old. As a very strong-willed child when I wanted something, it could be very difficult to dissuade me. That particular day, I wanted to make cutout sugar cookies. Mom was very busy and said, “Not today I have lots to do, now finish your breakfast.”
Messy Situation
As soon as she was out of sight, I determinedly pulled out the large canisters of flour, sugar, and salt from their low cupboard. Too heavy to lift to the counter, I pushed the copper canisters near the large mixing bowl I placed on the floor. As I attempted to dump all their contents into the bowl, the kitchen became engulfed in a cloud of flour with a sugary salty floor to match. When Mom returned, she was surprised to see me, and the kitchen covered in white. Jubilantly I exclaimed, “Look Mommy, I’m making cookies!” At that moment, she had a choice to make about this messy situation.
She could have scolded me and that would have been the end of it, but instead she chose to make it a memorable lesson. “You want to make cutout cookies?” she said as she moved the mixing bowl to the table. “Go ahead.” She helped me pour water into the unsifted mixture to make a gooey pasty dough. I worked the dough together and rolled it out with Mom’s big rolling pin. Carefully cutting with my favorite shapes the cookies were ready for the oven. With no eggs or butter, you can imagine how the cookies turned out. Thin and burned in places; they didn’t look very appetizing. Despite one bite being all salt and the next all flour, Mom and I ate the resulting cookies. Well, mostly I ate them.
Channeling Mom
When my own children challenged my patience, I found myself channeling my mom. From the giggles coming from the kitchen table, I should have known that my adolescent sons were up to something. Reluctantly, they had agreed to help me make cutout gingerbread boy and girl cookies. Unlike my four-year-old self, they didn’t want to stop playing video games to make cookies. The boys were unable to control their laughter as I came to inspect their decorating handiwork. I was aghast at their placement of the gumdrops on the girl gingerbread cookies, who now looked more like Victoria Secret models! With Mom’s lesson in mind, I kept a poker face as I informed them the gingerbread girls were simply too lovely to give away and we would enjoy them ourselves. Later as the boys were out delivering the gingerbread boy cookies to the neighborhood, I phoned Mom to thank her, and we had a good laugh about the “Gumdrop girls!”
Love, Patience, and Priorities
I will never forget the vital lesson Mom taught me on that memorable day when I was four. How I was more important than the flour, sugar, and salt. Material things were never as important to her as the people in her life–my siblings and I–were Mom’s greatest priority. So, when my own children drop my phone, accidentally erase my recently written post on my laptop, or pull up an entire flower plant, I follow my Mom’s example. Daily I strive to pass that valuable lesson of love, patience, and priorities along to my children and grandson.
