You may think that all we do around the Bunn household is eat. During my Mondays with Mom, that’s close to accurate, I think! One of our favorite things to eat is cookies – especially cookies and ice cream – but I already told you about ice cream. If you missed it, you can click here to read it. Oh, almost forgot about talking about waffles. Hmmm. Perhaps I should find something else to write about besides food!
Today I can’t get Mom to eat “real” food. She has been sneaking to the cookie tins to grab an oatmeal cookie or two or three. They aren’t the homemade kind. These are the ones from the grocery store with white icing on top. I rationalized that at least they had oatmeal in them and that’s healthy, right? There is something so comforting about the way they smell. They are probably not cookies for a discerning palate, but they suit us just fine.
For several years I have been losing the battle to get Mom to eat healthier. I used to hold desserts hostage, much like she did for me as a child. I’d try to get some vegetable in her before she could have sweets when we would eat together. We would argue and I would remind her how turnabout was only fair, since she made me eat my vegetables when I was a kid. She seemed to relish telling people how tough I was to her. She would say, “Do you know my daughter, Donna? She’s mean to me!” to everyone we’d meet. It became a running joke until I feared someone might turn me in for elder abuse!
Now she gets to eat pretty much whatever she wants, and if she wants oatmeal cookies, she knows where to find them. Dad keeps her stash on the kitchen counter. There may be other cookies there, too, but I think the oatmeal are her favorite. Oreos will do in a pinch.
I get tickled at her obvious joy in “sneaking” a cookie. She’ll wander down the front hall, telling me that she is going to look at the birds on the feeder, then backtrack through the dining room and into the kitchen through the side door away from the table where I sit. She’ll whistle loudly as she opens the cookie tin – perhaps she’s attempting to mask the sound of the tin lid lifting off? Then she nonchalantly shuffles to her chair, cookie already in her mouth. Sometimes she’ll offer one to me. Other times she’ll insist “this cookie would be much better with some ice cream.” Or, quite innocently, she’ll ask if we have any more coffee.
She is so funny! She has been looking at the magazine ads for candy and one of them says, “I love you even better than chocolate.” Something about that really makes her laugh. She’ll pass it by for a bit, then turn back to laugh at it again. Then she says, from out of the blue, “What it should say is ‘I love you even better with chocolate!’” Cue the laughter from both of us.
She definitely will eat chocolate candy if it is available. For Valentine’s, Dad always gets her a big heart-shaped box of fancy chocolates along with his loving card. After 66 years together, he knows all the secrets to her heart, and sweet candy and cards are a sure success. There’s also a glass jar next to the cookies where he will occasionally stock the Hershey’s miniatures during the rest of the year.
Having all of this cookie and candy available on Mondays is tough for me. I have a sweet tooth, too. It’s hard to keep my own hands out of the cookie jar! Thankfully I have a tiny bit of will power that keeps me away. That or I make myself run their stairs three times for each cookie or chocolate I eat! Speaking of which, I’d better find a piece of gum and quit talking about cookies. Now, if I could only distract Mom the same way.
