One of my Pampered Chef Team members always talks to me about the importance of her Community Group at her church. This group meets weekly and serve as a source of support for each other in good times and challenging times. This group ensures that no member of the group ever has to go through anything alone. They celebrate with each other and work with each other to create solutions or to provide support when going through the challenging times. Never does she have to go through anything feeling unsupported or alone.
My son taught me a similar lesson when he first came into my life. He wanted to bake cookies. I was so busy at the time working on my dissertation that I honestly did not want to stop working. However, my time with Nick was also rare. He both wanted me to bake with him, but also wanted to bake like a big boy and do it himself. So I moved my work near the kitchen so we could be together and I could help him when he needed it, but he could also cook like a big boy. It was his first time ever to bake cookies, something his birth mother had never allowed him to do. Each part of the experience was new and exciting. I remember feeling so grateful to be able to witness his joy, although I remember not looking forward to cleaning up the mess he was making. The best part was when he came to see me and I could see all the places he had touched his face, as there was white flour all over his chocolate skin. It is a moment I will remember forever.
He wanted to bake these cookies himself because they were to be gifts to my parents. So after we baked several dozen cookies, we sat down to decorate them. Throughout the process he would take moments to check in with me and let me know how he was feeling by pointing to the emoji chart which hung on our door. Today, whenever I look at the Pampered Chef Emoji Cookie Cutters I think of my son and how important baking cookies and emojis have always been to him.
Had Pampered Chef come out with the Emoji Cookie Cutters back then, I know we would have been using them. He would have wanted to eat the smiley face and the love cookies so he could fill himself with those emotions. I am so glad he did not bake solo that day. I am grateful for the memories of being with him and decorating the cookies. Even now he loves his Emoji’s, so I may have to send him a set. Then he can decorate them and take them to his roommates and his staff who are like his wookies.