The other day I made peanut butter cookies – by myself for the first time in ages. Recently I’ve had help from one dear little girl or another – Lady B, Sweet Baby, the little girl from next door. They each stood on a little stool to reach the counter while expertly forming balls and squashing them both ways with a fork to achieve the cookie’s trademark crosshatch.
It’s always fun, the cookies delicious and fairly nutritious, and they travelled well this summer – on day adventures here and to Alaska and California. We used this recipe, doubled, and cooked them a little longer than called for.
Such a normal, happy thing to do with children.
But I kept seeing these three little girls in my mind’s eye when I watched the little girl named Magdalena, sobbing and pleading with authorities that she needs her father. I can’t let my imagination go far enough to put the girls I know in Magdalena’s shoes (probably pink and glittery or sporty with velcro), but am well aware of the sheer terror of this experience.
And that’s what we (our American government) visited on children last week – along with the slaughter of people shopping for school supplies and groceries on a weekend afternoon. From conscious will to act with cruelty to failure to protect us from assault weapons – it was quite a week for the occupant of the White House and the Republicans controlling the Senate.
Far from peanut butter cookies, I can’t tie this up, but can’t make sense of it, and can’t not write about it.
her spirits rose... 
Oh, yes! We must reverse this trend. If only the Dems could coalesce and act together! I am sure many moderates and clear thinking conservatives are appalled at all this. Cookies is really a good response, and I thank you for this post.
Thank you Bonny- it’s all so overwhelming. But you will pretty soon have a cookie maker!
The empathy you show in this post is totally lacking in the administration, and the same thing seems to be happening in Alaska. It’s good that you wrote about it, and it’s also good to think about those cookies, made with love and little hands.
It breaks my heart. Alaska, the nation, what a cruel mess.