My mom has always said that when she moves to a new house it doesn't feel like a home until she's baked chocolate chip cookies there. I adopted this theory when I moved to St. Louis in February of 2006. However, I didn't realize that I didn't have a spatula to take the cookies off the baking sheet until the first batch came out of the oven. *Ring, ring* "Mom? How would you get cookies off a baking sheet if you didn't have a spatula?" I got by that night, but I sure did head straight to Target the next day to buy a spatula. When I moved to Minneapolis in 2007 and bought my condo I was especially excited to make the first batch of chocolate chip cookies. After all, I'd bought this place. It was really and truly Home for me--the first place I could truly call Home since I was a senior in high school, back in 1999. So, you can imagine my disappointment when I discovered that along with dropping my (almost brand new) TV and scratching up my coffee table the movers had broken my only spatula. After another run to Target, I was finally able to make the cookies, and my condo became my Home!
Now I tell you all of this because my mom and Ron just moved into a new house, and I came down to Chicago to help them unpack and settle in. Naturally, the chocolate chip cookies came up, and we started talking about when we'd get to make them. But after only two days in the new house I started getting a little chest congestion, followed quickly by plugged up ears and finally full-blown sinus congestion and an inner ear infection. Every day for the next three days when I woke up I felt worse than the day before, until I finally started feeling a little bit better today. Every few hours I have a couple of minutes that I can actually breathe through my nose, and I can now go a couple of hours at a time without a major coughing fit. But what I've realized through all of this is that maybe the chocolate chip cookies aren't the only thing that can make a house a home. Jan and Ron have made me feel so welcome in their new home and have taken wonderful care of me, providing cough syrup, box after box of tissues, hot tea, a cozy bed with no wake-up calls, and even directions to the walk-in clinic so I could get some antibiotics. I hope that Jan and Ron will still make that first batch of cookies together, but as far as I'm concerned their love and care have already made this house a home.
7 comments:
Did you just call your mom "Jan?" Is that even allowed? Hope you're feeling better Trish!
I thought your mom's name was Mom*Star.. I'm confused...
Awe...too sweet! Great blog!
Oh and don't forget about the "love rub"...the love rub makes a house a home, too.
(Get your minds out of the gutter, girls, I'm talking about Vicks Vapo-rub!)
So, so sweet. :) Miss you, friend!
Yes, I called her Jan. That's what most of my friends call her. Except, of course, for the ones who call her Mom*Star. I'm pretty sure it's allowed. She hasn't commented to say otherwise. :)
Jaime, you're totally right! I also learned while there that in addition to chocolate chip cookies one must make popcorn on the stove (a Mom*Star specialty!) and a meatloaf. Don't worry--she made us popcorn for dinner one night and I made us a meatloaf one night. It's a Home!
Missers--I miss you too, friend!
Ok, that works for me. In my case, is it okay if my home includes peanut butter kiss cookies and popcorn on the stove? :) I don't think I'll ever forget us sitting on the couch, eating stove-top popcorn, and watching that trainwreck of a television program!
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