Being There

There are still some things you just can’t do over the phone or via the internet. Brittany needed her gallbladder out last month. She had made 3 trips to the emergency room with horrendous pain. Each time she had called me before deciding to go or not. Each time she went and they told her she really needed to have the surgery.

So she found a surgeon who was “precious” and set the date. John and I drove down on a Thursday night after work to be with her. She had to be at the hospital at 6 a.m. for a 7:30 operation. We all got up at 5:15 and I cheerfully chattered to her in the car thinking I would take her mind off of what was coming.

She mostly grunted her answers and when she walked up to the check-in desk the first thing she asked the lady was “How soon can they put me under?”

She is so cranky early in the morning.

The Dr. came out by 8 a.m. and told us she did great. Actually I think he meant HE did great because I’m pretty sure she was just lying there.

But, anyway, we had her home by 10:00 and she was up and around the next day as if nothing had happened. John and I left that afternoon because he had to go on a business trip. It was a short visit, but one we felt we had to make. Just to be there.

I thought about “being there” a few nights later when I was making Rosettes. A special cookie I’ve made every Christmas since we were married. John was out of town still and of course Brittany was in Charleston, so I was making them alone. The first time we made them after we got married John and I figured out the recipe together and he held the iron in the fryer for 45 seconds exactly for each cookie. (Because that’s what the recipe said.)

I remember the year I was expecting Brittany I started out helping, but the smell of the grease got to me and he had to finish alone. When Brittany was little she would be the one to sprinkle powdered sugar on each cookie. Then by the time she was in high school she was frying the cookies. (And not timing them. She’s more like her mom following orders than her dad.)

When she went away to college it was just John and I making them again. And this year just me. But, I made them, because it’s tradition. And I’ll take them everywhere I usually do and give Brittany some too.

I called her while I was making them trying to get a little holiday cheer mixed in. But this year they aren’t quite the same. This year they’re just…cookies.

Because there are some things you just can’t call in.