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Thank God for that plate of cookies!
By Aardvark | September 18, 2009
It is rare in life to find someone who loves you unconditionally. It is even more unusual to find that person when you are 6 and to hold on to them through adulthood. I have been blessed for all these years to have that unconditional love from one of the most amazing people I have ever known. I can’t imagine my life without you in it. I can’t think back to childhood without you immediately coming to mind. You are truly a part of me. I love you girl! I hope you have everything you wish for this birthday!
I know I have posted this story before but it seems a fitting tribute to Susanna on her birthday. If you have read it before… feel free to skip it.
A Plate of Cookies and a Pinafore
It was the summer of 1983, and my parents had decided to move to the country. My dad wanted fresh air and lots of land. My mom wanted peace and quiet. I wanted rainbow wallpaper and pink curtains. What I got was a plate of cookies and a pinafore.
Our new house was under construction. My dad was compulsively leading the crew. I was his assistant. I took my job very seriously. I came prepared to work. I was appropriately dressed in my work clothes, a fire engine red t-shirt and my trusty overalls. My long dark hair was pulled into pigtails complete with coordinating red pom-pom wiggies. I was ready to work and not afraid to get dirty. My duties were imperative to the completion of the house. I was to pick up the discarded nails, monitor the status of the dirt pile (this mostly consisted of climbing to the top and then rolling to the bottom) and most importantly to prepare a daily report for my mother.
The foundation had been poured and the frame of the house was going up around me. I was diligently attending to my duties when I heard a tap tap tap that was not even remotely consistent with the sound of a hammer. I looked around and my eyes landed on the future location of the front door. What I saw was quite unexpected. It was a girl. This was no ordinary girl but a girl who looked to be about my age. She stood waiting at a front door that wasn’t there. She couldn’t see me but I could see her. She was waiting patiently holding a covered plate in front of her with both hands. She was reminiscent of a Stepford child. Her golden blond hair was styled in perfect ringlets and secured with a pale pink ribbon. Her hair ribbon was the exact shade of her pale pink dress that was partially covered with a crisp, clean, white pinafore tied securely in the back with a perfect bow. Her white ankle socks trimmed in lace slid perfectly into her black patent leather Mary Jane’s. Her feet shifted slightly out of nervousness, but her smile never wavered.
I dropped my hammer on top of the scrap of 2 by 4 I had been using to practice driving nails and ran to see who she was and what she was doing at my (soon to be) front door.
“Who are you?” I asked in my most adult six-year-old voice.
The porcelain doll took a deep breath. “My name is Susanna Leberman. I live next door. I brought you a plate of cookies and I hope we can be lifelong friends.”
The words tumbled from her mouth like a robot programmed by a debutante. It wasn’t until she finished that she took another breath.
“What kind of cookies?” I questioned.
“Chocolate chip”
“Ok.” I said and sat down.
So there we were, me in my dungarees and Susanna in her Sunday best, sitting on the concrete on a hot summer day in 1983 sharing sweets and selves. It was the beginning of a lifelong friendship forged over a plate of cookies and a pinafore.
Topics: Whatever | 3 Comments »
September 18th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Susanna totally rocks, and so does your story. I always enjoy reading it. Post pics of you two as youngin’s sometime.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SUSANNA!
September 18th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
How sweet! I wish I could remember how I first met some of my childhood friends. I remember scenes that include them, but not play-by-plays like this.
What a sweet story!
September 25th, 2009 at 9:05 am
I am so glad that you wrote this beucase sometimes it feels like I dreamed it. You are one of the best things to ever come my way and you are never escaping me!!