MOTHER'S BIRTHDAY - Her 80th

  

 Today is my Mother’s 80th  birthday. I celebrate this special day, and all her days,  and  how she has chosen to  live her life.  Full of joy and gladness. Gracious, generous and kind to family and friends; To strangers in the store or someone in need, Mama   offers  an encouraging word or some good deed. 

  Our Mother’s unconditional love was a safe haven for my brother, Walt and me. Mom often told us we were God's precious gifts to her, and  made us feel like we were the most  important people in the world.  Walt and I  knew we could always count on Mom. No matter what.  She laughed with us, cried with us,  and gave us confidence to pursue our dreams.  Her  example of walking in faith, and trusting in the Lord that all will be well continues to be a good guide for me,  and  her grandsons Gavin and Garrett.

  One of mom's endearing traits  is the way she always makes  time to listen to others, and seems so interested in what we have to say,  no matter if it interrupts something she is doing; working on some project, doing chores, relaxing. Recently,  she  reminisced   how for years  she never saw the end of a TV show  because either my brother or I, along with one of our friends,  would  run into the house  to share  some  exciting event  with her.  Always  10 minutes before the movie was over!  Never once did mom say to us, “No, not now" or  "I'm busy, come back later".  Mom always gave us her undivided  attention and seemed to gladly  listen  to whatever we had to share . 

   I celebrate my darling  Mother and her birthday, but know  there is no gift I can give  her to match  the precious   gift she has given me my entire  life, the sweet  gift of herself.  How blessed both Walt and I are to be our Mother’s children.  

 Happy Birthday, Mother ! With love and gratitude. 

   

   

  

Grandma Cooney's Recipe Box

    I baked cookies today, and thought of my Grandma Cooney.  In my memory there isn't anyone  who made  better tasting cookies than Grandma ! I'm fortunate to have many of her recipes. That's because one year for Christmas, when I was 13 years old, one of Grandma's gifts to me was a  small metal recipe box , so reminiscent  from the early  1960's, filled with a variety of  recipe's  - Biscuits, Bread, Cakes, Cookies,  Pastry/Pies, Meats, Vegetables, Sauces  and Salad Dressings, each one  carefully handwritten on a
 3"  x 5"   card.   On top of the box it says,  "Favorite Recipes From My Grandma Cooney".  

   That box still sits on my kitchen counter, and Grandma's favorite recipes have become my favorite recipes, especially Thumb Print cookies.   This morning while I was adding  1/2 cup  brown sugar to 1/2 pound butter, and rolling the dough into the shape of a wagon wheel, I couldn't help but smile feeling Grandma's presence very near, and the hope she  was smiling too.

 

   
    But perhaps the most important recipe Grandma put in the box is this one, the  recipe  for living  life:

"Remember, petite, to find some way to be happy. For when you are sad you grow plain - when you are plain, you grow bitter, when you are bitter, then you are very disagreeable and a disagreeable woman has nothing, neither friends, nor love nor contentment"

   Thank you , Grandma,  for your long reaching guidance, and everlasting love.