Puts a Smile on My Face

There are certain things from childhood that stick with you, for better or ill. Like the time a boy (the only person in my childhood to share my birthday) gave me a black eye during kindergarten recess. Or playing Breyer horses in my best friend's basement. Or in first grade when my eighth-grade buddy insisted on carrying me around during our school Halloween parade because he thought I was so adorable. He was dressed as a doctor. I don't remember my costume.

And then there were the smiley-face cookies. Back in the age when children could bring in treats for their birthday (before food allergies posed such a threat), some kids would bring the yellow-frosted smiley face cookies from the local bakery. These were my absolute favorite birthday treat. Only the rich kids would bring them in. Thankfully enough, there were plenty of rich kids at my school. The rest of us brought homemade treats. I always wished I could be one of the ones to bring smiley-face cookies. But they were too pricey and besides, I think my mother enjoyed making birthday treats.

I relived that memory the other day when picking my daughter up from a friend's house. This family owns a bakery and they had given the Uber-Princess a cool pumpkin-face cookie to take home. It reminded me of those smiley-face cookies, so I recounted my story to the friend's mom. Several days later she showed up at school with a little green gift bag. Inside were two smiley-face cookies from their bakery. "My husband sent these for you," she said.

I grinned like those cookie faces the rest of the day. Too bad my kids can't bring treats to school. I would definitely be sending smiley-face cookies from my friend's bakery. I may just have to find another occasion to get some again.

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