Smoke twirled upward as my granddaughter blew the candles out on her “Oreo cookie” birthday cake. It’s hard to believe she is now a teenager. The years passed too quickly, like a beautiful leaf blowing in a rushing wind. You can’t slow it down; if you blink, you miss it.

Taylor has grown into a strong, confident young woman. Her soft facial features tell of her warm heart, and her fiery red hair is like her personality, both confident and feisty. Even as a toddler, she exhibited these personality traits.

The Oreo cookies surrounding the top of the cake take me back to the summer when she was four years old.  It was our last day before busy schedules began with pre-school activities and sports, and life as we knew it was about to change.

One Summer a Few Years Ago

Throughout the summer, we spent most of our days outside, creating fairy gardens or playing games where we traveled from garden to garden, pretending each was a different place around the world. But there were times the heat forced us to seek the cool comfort of indoors. The last day of summer was one of those hot southern days when we sat in my air-conditioned office, drawing and creating works of art.

Soft music played in the background, and the only other sound in the room was pencils moving across a sheet of paper. I glanced at Taylor’s work and exclaimed, “You are so talented!”

Without taking her eyes off her paper and with complete confidence in her artistic abilities, she answered, “I know.”

We both fell into a deep silence. I’m not sure what she was thinking, but I thought about how much I love her self-confidence.

I had no concern about her overly confident attitude. A time in life would come when her confidence would undoubtedly get knocked down a notch or two by her peers. Knowing this, I found subtle ways to encourage her to know the person God created her to be despite the words spoken by others.

My favorite Scripture, Psalm 139:13-16, came to mind. It took years for me to learn that the opinions and words of others do not define me, but God, my Creator, defined me before I was born.

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.”

Occasionally, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Taylor glance at my drawings and then attempt to create whatever she saw on my canvas. Knowing this, I intentionally drew shapes like circles or simple flowers that were easy for her to recreate. Finally, she broke the silence.

“I am much more talented than you are,” she said, looking at my artwork.

I nodded in agreement. Maybe the flowers or circles I drew were too simple from her point of view. Perhaps she expected more from me.

Her tiny hand grasped the pencil and moved it back and forth across the paper. I wasn’t sure what the result would be. But she knew. Or perhaps she was creating as I do, where I start without a plan and end up with something unexpected.

We continued drawing, again in complete silence. She was in deep thought. So was I.

For a few moments, I let my mind wander to a time in the future, with a curly red-headed teenager sitting at my desk, creating a masterpiece for her first art exhibit. I smiled with delight as I thought of what life holds for my granddaughter.

I heard her release a long, deep sigh. She was either finished with her masterpiece or about to enlighten me on what it takes to be a great artist. With her hands spread out, palms up, eyes wide with expression, she turned to me and spoke words of wisdom.

“If you would eat more, you would be more talented.”

There. You have it. Words I waited to hear all my life. Eat more! All this wisdom from a four-year-old little girl.

She continued working on her art while I contemplated her advice. I thought about the bag of Oreo cookies in the kitchen cabinet. I had to know, so I asked.

“Taylor, what if I ate the bag of Oreo cookies that are in the kitchen cabinet? I mean, the entire bag? Would that make me more talented?”

She scrambled out of her chair as quickly as possible. “That will make you more talented, Mimi! We will both be more talented!” She emphasized “both” as she darted down the hallway to the kitchen for the unopened bag of Oreos.

Together, we enjoyed the cookies as our talents and my waistline increased. Taylor ate the middle; I ate the outside. We made a great team and finished the entire bag in record time. Two hours later, an empty Oreo cookie bag lay on the desk with crumbs scattered all around. On display throughout my office, from wall to wall, were watercolor paintings, fabric art, and sketches of horses, dogs, cats, and fish with wiggly worms.

We created handmade thank-you cards with matching envelopes. I wrote a message on the inside of a card to a friend, and then Taylor sealed it and placed a stamp, upside down, on the envelope. The card was ready to go in the mail.

She was one happy little girl who started a project, put so much of herself into it, and saw it to completion when we lifted the flag on the mailbox together.

At the end of the day, my granddaughter told me I was a better artist since we had eaten the Oreo cookies. I have never looked at a bag of cookies the same way since that day.

If Oreo cookies were the answer to creativity, my neighbors would tire of the delivery trucks bringing daily shipments. In fact, I would ship cookies all over the world for the sake of creativity or problem-solving.

Back to the Present

The lingering smell of burnt-out birthday candles brought me back to the moment. I glanced across the table into my teenage granddaughter’s beautiful, warm brown eyes. There was a knowing look between us as she reached for a cookie from the top of the cake. She opened the cookie, ate the inside, and passed the outside to me. She remembered.

I wonder if she still thinks Oreo cookies make her Mimi more creative?

As you read this, I’m sure her solution for creativity fills you with pure delight. So, go ahead and enjoy those cookies you have been craving. Eat more and be more creative! But most of all, make memories that you will cherish through the years. Those are the moments that give true meaning to life.

A Birthday Card Surprise

A few months after Taylor’s 13th birthday, she presented me with a handmade birthday card that included a graphic of an Oreo cookie, showing how she eats the inside and I eat the outside. Her words, “we work better together,” made me smile big. She is right. We make a great team with Oreo cookies! Thankful for sweet memories.