{"id":292,"date":"2007-10-02T09:46:29","date_gmt":"2007-10-02T13:46:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.summerofjim.com\/2007\/10\/02\/the-big-cookie\/"},"modified":"2009-03-13T10:24:29","modified_gmt":"2009-03-13T14:24:29","slug":"the-big-cookie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/?p=292","title":{"rendered":"The Big Cookie"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s just say that my Aunt Meggie has the knack.<\/em>\u00a0 She not only makes the best oatmeal raisin cookies in Connecticut; but she understood their purpose.<\/em>\u00a0 It is that understanding<\/em> that truly set her apart from the other oatmeal raisin makers. <\/p>\n

It is not in my memory to remember what it felt like to hold a cookie in my small hand.\u00a0 But there is something irrepressible in seeing a 3 year old holding a cookie.\u00a0 A cookie is the perfect sized food for a child\u2026 the shape slides in beautifully to all four fingers and the thumb\u2026 so to the child, the cookie is big. <\/em>But \u201cbig\u201d in a good way\u2026 just the right sized big, while a cupcake might be too big. <\/em>I would watch my children\u2019s eyes light up when they held a cookie\u2026 and sometimes a cookie in each hand<\/em>!\u00a0 And seeing their joy, I am sure the first time I had an oatmeal raisin in my hand, I felt like king of the world, too.<\/p>\n

Much has been made about the salutary benefits of chicken soup\u2026 how it is the ultimate cure all.\u00a0 Well and good.\u00a0 But Meggie understood that there is more to living than chicken soup.\u00a0 There were times that an oatmeal raisin cookie is called for. <\/p>\n

I can think of a dozen reasons that would make a small child cry.\u00a0 Most involve a physical hurt of some type\u2026 something that might have spilled a little blood\u2026 a nasty scrape from stumbling on the driveway?\u00a0 Sometimes a cry might be a product of a fear, worry or another type of non-physical hurt.\u00a0 But to little folks a cry is a cry.<\/p>\n

I can remember the time we went to visit Meggie in Woodbury, I must have been six or seven\u2026 I was playing outside and the neighbor\u2019s Elkhound got loose and came over and bit me (this is the type of memory that I will carry to my grave)\u2026 I went running into the house scared and crying\u2026 got a hug from my Mom, a nuzzle to the neck and a kiss, a ruffle of my hair and an \u201cit\u2019s OK\u201d.\u00a0 It did staunch the flow of tears.\u00a0 Aunt Meggie brought me an oatmeal raisin cookie.\u00a0 See what I mean?\u00a0 She had the knack.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sure\u2026 chicken soup is good for battling yellow fever and beriberi.\u00a0 But Meggie knew that an oatmeal cookie could heal beyond the wound to a wounded spirit<\/em>.<\/p>\n

There is more.\u00a0 Whenever Meggie baked oatmeal raisin cookies she always made an extra two or three that were really big<\/em>.\u00a0 These cookies were kept hidden\u2026 away from the cookie jar, or the \u201chospitality plate.\u201d\u00a0 This was Meggie\u2019s special emergency stash.<\/em>\u00a0 Cookies that were for times when a regular cookie just wouldn\u2019t do the job.<\/p>\n

Meggie treated each occurrence independently.\u00a0 She would gauge the crisis and the nature of the cry and dispense the necessary \u201cRx\u201d\u2026 usually a regular cookie was fine\u2026 but sometimes she would say, \u201cI think you need a big cookie<\/em>\u201d, and she would go off to retrieve the necessary antidote from a place unseen.<\/p>\n

To a little kid, if a regular <\/em>cookie looked as big as a pie, then a big <\/em>cookie looked like a large pizza pie<\/em>.\u00a0 And that\u2019s big<\/u>.\u00a0 Meggie?\u00a0 Like I said, she had the knack<\/em>, she knew when a big cookie was necessary.<\/p>\n

That she knew what to do when I was three, or when my kids were three\u2026 is one thing\u2026 that she knew what to do when I was fifty-five was another\u2026\u00a0 And so the day came when I went to visit her in Chatham\u2026 where she went to retire\u2026\u00a0 a day when I felt the world closing in on me, shell shocked from business, a marriage burst at the seams, and not getting any younger\u2026 feeling a failure at everything I had ever done\u2026 I took my Keeshond along for the ride, and went to re-charge my batteries, as was my custom, on a deck overlooking the Atlantic.<\/p>\n

My Mother told me\u00a0one day that water restored me<\/em>.\u00a0 She came to this conclusion watching me on the beach in Woodmont\u2026 I would just stare to the horizon, thinking of I know not what\u2026 and she said to me, \u201cyou love the water, it makes you feel better just to look at it, doesn\u2019t it?\u201d\u00a0 It’s true, water does help me.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

I love\u00a0the sun\u00a0particularly at its beginning and at its end\u2026 and I can think of no better place to watch its transition than over a body of water.\u00a0 Meggie had chilled a bottle of Grand Cru Chablis for us\u2026 we watched Barney scatter about the yard\u2026 smelling here and there and lifting his leg where appropriate.\u00a0 We watched the sun slowly move to meet the horizon.\u00a0 We chatted amiably about a variety of topics and issues and after our second glass of Chablis, Meggie asked, \u201cJimmy, something is troubling you?\u00a0 I mean I know about the basic <\/em>stuff.\u00a0 But is there more?\u201d<\/p>\n

Did I tell you that my Aunt Meggie had a knack<\/em>?<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one has it easy\u201d, I start, \u201cbut someone who I have known for several years has developed\u00a0a serious illness.\u00a0 And it hurts me.\u00a0 In so many ways she helped me deal with my \u2018ups and downs\u2019 and I feel powerless to help\u2026 to return to her so much that she has given me.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was thankful that I had the Atlantic to distract me\u2026 <\/p>\n

\u201cI think you need a big cookie<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 And Meggie departed for a place unseen.\u00a0 I alternated my view between the Atlantic and Barney investigating the yard.\u00a0 When Meggie returned she placed before me a plate bearing a single cookie\u2026 a big cookie<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou always know when a big cookie<\/em> is needed\u2026 you knew it when I was five, you know it when I am fifty-five.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no secret to the big cookie,<\/em>\u201d she told me, \u201cit\u2019s simply giving a little extra to make someone else feel better.\u201d\u00a0 She sipped her Chablis, \u201cI know you love my oatmeal raisin cookies Jimmy.\u00a0 But a big cookie<\/strong> doesn\u2019t have to be a big cookie<\/em>.\u00a0 It could be a card, a phone call\u2026 something to let the other person know that you care\u2026 that you are thinking about them.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to bake oatmeal raisin cookies.\u201d<\/p>\n

We finished the Chablis.\u00a0 Had a light supper\u2026 and then it was time to pack Barney in the car and head back to Connecticut.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t have my Aunt Meggie\u2019s gift, her knack.<\/em>\u00a0 But tomorrow\u2026 I\u2019m going to make a phone call.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s just say that my Aunt Meggie has the knack.\u00a0 She not only makes the best oatmeal raisin cookies in Connecticut; but she understood their purpose.\u00a0 It is that understanding that truly set her apart from the other oatmeal raisin … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-meggie-saul"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/summerofjim.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}