Cookies for Grandpa Joe

Once upon a time there was a young woman, lets call her Terry, living out in the boonies with three small children and another on the way. Life was hard for her. This almost woman, still young in her early twenties that spent too much time alone , except for her children. She had a neighbor who befriended her, but she was also over burdened with what life had handed her. The one bright spot in Terry's week was when her mother in law drove to the nearest town to sell her eggs and get her groceries.

That morning the bread dough would be mixed and set for the week end and then the weekly batch of molasses cookies would be mixed and then baked. Terry always had the little ones fed and ready for nap. At 1:00 she would make a pot of egg coffee and set out a plate of the molasses cookies . T here would be a knock on the door and there would be Grandpa Joe, the father in law. He would have a tootsie pop for each of the little ones for after their nap and then Grandpa Joe and Terry would have coffee and cookies. He was a simple farmer, but his stories carried the too young to be a mom, to a world where life was good and she could forget her unhappiness for a couple of hours. He told the best stories, and every once in a while he would ask for another cup of coffee, bite into another cookie and say, "darn but these cookies are good, just like what my mother used to make".

When life got to be too much for the overworked lonely young woman, she knew that Grandpa Joe would be there. Later in life she would wonder, why no one else seemed to see him or hear him, he was almost as invisible as she was to his family. Terry's children grew up loving their grandpa Joe, and he was Terry's best friend until he passed.

Why couldn't her husband be like his dad and care what happened to his family? Why did he prefer any bar, tavern, and want to talk to anyone but his wife? Those were answers the young wife never did figure out. But the memory of those simple hours carried her through a lot of tough times. She never did know whether Grandpa Joe actually liked those cookies or just cared for the young woman. Or maybe it was both.

GRANDPA JOE'S MOLASSES COOKIES

3/4 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

1 egg beaten

2 cups flour

4 Tablespoons molasses

1 tsp soda

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp cloves

1 tsp cinnamon

blend egg, sugar, molasses, then dry ingredients. Mix until blended, do not over mix, chill for an hour, roll into small balls and in sugar. Bake at 375 for about 12 minutes. Depends on stove.