Taking good care of m’boy for me
Monday December 22nd 2008, 6:38 pm
Filed under: Family,Friends

Okay, first, here’s the recipe:

CRANBERRY BARS

Cookie crust: oven at 350.  Grease edges of 15x10 cookie sheet.  Cut
1 c of cold butter into 2 1/2 c flour; don't use a cuisinart or anything
that would pulverize the butter, you want it lumpy to come out crisp.  Add
1/2 c sugar and 1/2 tsp salt. Press firmly in pan, bake 20-23 minutes or
till golden.  Top with filling right away and bake again.

Filling: 4 eggs, 1 c. corn syrup, 1 c sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 3 tbl melted 
butter, 2 c
coarsely chopped cranberries, 1 c. coarsely chopped pecans.  Beat eggs,
corn syrup, sugar, and butter.  Stir in cranberries and nuts.  Immediately
pour over hot crust as it comes out of the oven, spreading it out.  Bake
25-30 minutes or until set.  Cool; refrigerate it to be able to cut it
really cleanly.

Now the story:

My son John has been on a mission for the Mormon Church for a year now. Like his brother did, he’s serving in the South.

My friend Bonnie, whom I’ve known online for ten years and have long wanted to meet in person, got to meet John instead.  He had something that needed mending; she told me her shop’s address (she’s a seamstress) and warmly welcomed him in and waved away any offer of reimbursement and then told me what a nice kid I have. Look who’s talking.  Thank you, Bonnie!

I got a phone call a few weeks ago from a member of John’s ward (congregation), asking me for a recipe for his favorite comfort-food cookies and for a few photographs of his childhood; she was going to throw a surprise Christmas party for all the missionaries around her area.

I sent off a few pictures and typed out my cranberry bar squares.  And then John got transferred to a different city last week, and that, I thought, was the end of that.

My phone rang this afternoon: the woman had the cranberry bars in the oven and wanted to know how to tell for sure when they were done.  Till the edges look golden, I told her.  But–he’s been transferred! I added, not wanting to disappoint her, but.

Yes, Christy said, she knew that.  But she was so sure it would make his day.  (Well, yeah, it totally would. He could snarf half a 15×11 pan of those by himself.)

And then she stunned me: she said her husband was a pilot and they were going to go fly the quick hop skip and a jump and take him those cookies, warm out of the oven.

Oh. My. Goodness.

She told me her own son was serving a mission in a place where she’d sent him a Christmas box in November and he hadn’t gotten it yet and probably wouldn’t in time.  She couldn’t fix that.  But she could help my kid feel loved from home and by the people around him.

How on earth can you thank someone for something like that?!


15 Comments so far
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I’d say “just pass it on”, but you have done that so many times that now, it’s coming home to you. (Well, your son on your behalf.) Just enjoy it!

Comment by Barbara-Kay 12.22.08 @ 8:38 pm

I love it when “coincidience” (read Providence) takes care of a special thing so nicely.

Comment by Ruth 12.22.08 @ 10:32 pm

Wonderful story! I bet those cookies will mean so much to your son!

Comment by LynnM 12.23.08 @ 1:32 am

How wonderful. People can be so kind, it’s really touching to hear of a story like this.

Comment by Anna 12.23.08 @ 2:43 am

Puts a whole ‘nuther spin on that “walking the second mile” thing, doesn’t it? I’ve never known anyone named Bonnie who wasn’t a wonderful human being. [My late m-i-l, the child we named after her, the wife of the professor who baptized me into the Church, for starters.]

Comment by Lynn 12.23.08 @ 3:55 am

now I have to explain the tear in my eye to my co-workers. What a nice story.

Comment by Sandra 12.23.08 @ 6:58 am

Thanks for sharing that! What a great person–from her idea at the beginning, to contacting all the missionaries’ families, to following through in such a way. Lovely.

Comment by amy 12.23.08 @ 7:18 am

I think you’ve done a very nice job of saying thank you right here. May blessings rain down upon her and her pilot husband.

Comment by Toni Smoky-Mountains 12.23.08 @ 7:45 am

The only real way is to pay it forward, I guess.
And part of that was sharing the story with us. What a lovely glow you brought me this wintery morning!
What wonderful people there are in the world! :-}

Comment by Diana Troldahl 12.23.08 @ 8:10 am

Because you pay it forward everyday.

Comment by afton 12.23.08 @ 8:14 am

I’m crying at work… a new cranberry recipe AND such a sweet story, full of Christmas spirit!

Merry Christmas!

Comment by Channon 12.23.08 @ 8:40 am

As you have touched people’s lives, so shall you be touched.

Comment by Susan 12.23.08 @ 9:25 am

WOW. That’s awesome. Now that’s love.

Comment by Alicia 12.23.08 @ 1:47 pm

What goes around comes around. You do this kind of thing all the time, and the universe notices. Wonderful story! (and the recipe sounds great)

Comment by Lisa 12.23.08 @ 9:31 pm

I am thanking God for the Maryland miracle. And thank you for the story of “passing it forward”.

Comment by sherry in idaho 12.24.08 @ 9:01 am



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