The greatest joys in life do not come from great aspirations or fantastic accomplishments. They are not present on our life's checklist but buried within. The small hours of your life, the moments and minutiae, are the places where your heart truly resides. The briefest of moments can afford the greatest laughter, unexpected joy, growth of endearment, and the memories can last . . . and last . . . and last . . . for a lifetime. The smile of a lover, the tears of a child, and the glimmer in my eye - these are the peanut butter cookies of life. Take a moment and share a peanut butter cookie with me, won't you? . . .
All eight of us - Marianne, myself, Rory, Megan, Blair, Camille, Aiden and Milo - had put on pajamas and congregated into a large cuddle on my bed to watch some edutainment video by Disney about global travel. It was quite good as I remember. Marianne had one of her sudden urges and mentioned cookies. Rory leaped from the bed excited to show-off his new-found skill in making peanut butter cookies. He had learned it in his home-ec class at school. I dismissed him to enjoy the task and off he went. In the time it took Rory to make the cookies, everyone but myself and Megan had fallen asleep. Rory finally re-emerged with a plate of fresh baked cookies perched on one outstretched arm.
Before proceeding with this tale, it is important to visualize Rory in his serving posture, stone-faced and expressionless with just a hint of dumbfounded disbelief at the scene that unfolded. It is also important to note that Marianne is, well, uniquely idiosyncratic and that has been inherited, in turn, by her daughter Camille.
I reached up and took one of the delicious, slightly burnt cookies from the plate in Rory's hand. He offered one to Marianne. "Would you like one Marianne?" Noticing that she was asleep, he offered again a little louder. "Marianne?"
She bolted upright, pulled down her nightie top revealing the cleavage of her bosom, and frantically scrambled with her hands between her breasts. She was obviously seeking to remove something that had been deposited there during a dream that must have been imagined as quite uncomfortable. As she slowly began to wake more, it dawned on her that her search was fruitless and futile. Her posture slumped, defeated. Her expression became one of near-waking fatigue rather than panic, and as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened she reached up, took a cookie, and sighed, "Thank you, Rory" as she began to nibble on it. I could see the look of 'wtf'-disbelief in Rory's eyes and it was all I could do to contain myself from bursting out with laughter. "What were you looking for down there!?", I asked, incredulously.
The question would receive no answer. No sooner had it escaped my lips than, at the end of the bed, Camille bolted upright and immediately began frantically scrambling at the air in front of her. I quickly realized that in her mind she was trying to climb something or reach for something and that, although her eyes were fully open, she remained soundly asleep. I couldn't resist. I looked at her and gently nudged, "That's it, Millie. Climb up. You can get it. Reach up. Reach up for the prize." Her reaching and climbing of the invisible ladder increased and pitched into frustration and panic. Rory remained standing as he had been. He took a bite of a cookie and stared at her in the same manner someone tentatively eats popcorn while watching a movie. Camille looked at me with concern and confusion as to why she couldn't achieve her goal. She then promptly slammed her eyes shut, slammed back down into a lying position and resumed normal slumber. My face must have read similar to Rory's: somewhat amused, but largely in disbelief at such borderline insanity. Marianne watched all that Camille had done with no change in expression. It would seem that she thought that everything that was happening was completely normal and she continued nibbling her cookie in unison with Rory. I felt like I was watching a ridiculous movie in which I was situated physically amongst the players who were also viewers eating cookies rather than popcorn. It was a little surreal and a lot hilarious.
Finally Rory, myself, Megan and Marianne all burst out laughing. As unforgiving as my description of the situation may seem, Marianne will be the first to admit that the entire event was pure comedy and that she was a leading actress in the scene. In the moment of time the incident took, I was endeared even further to Marianne and Camille. They are my sweet little peanut butter cookies, both, and captured my heart in an instant. I even like peanut butter cookies now. I never used to. Rory did a good job. Does your life have any peanut butter cookies in it?
See you in hell,
Shakes.
No comments:
Post a Comment