Maryanne's sugar cookies

Over on my food blog a day or so ago, I posted the recipe for my sugar cookies. I also talked about how I got the recipe from my mom who got it from her friend- Maryanne. My mom called me up tonight (actually she was just returning a phone call) but she mentioned how in reading my blog today I had made her cry.

Maryanne was a friend of my mom's in the neighborhood I grew up in who died of cancer very suddenly leaving behind 5 children. The oldest was about my age probably 10 or so, and the twin baby girls were just 2 years old. That is about all the info that I knew first hand. The rest of it comes from stories that I had heard. She was a good friend and kind and loving and talented and loved by all who knew her, but what my mom mentioned on the phone tonight that I never realized was how young she was. Like younger than I am now. 31 or 32. Holy cannoli. I mean back when you are ten, 30 is halfway to dead. I always understood that she was "too young to die" and her loss was such a tragedy, but mostly because she left behind all those little kids and it was so sudden. She was sick and then she was gone. And I had to take pause for a moment to really think of that. And I'm not sure what to make of it. Younger than me. But more than that, is that it's been at least 20 years and my mom still cried when she read the brief little paragraph I had written. That says something about the kind of woman Maryanne was and the impact she left behind.

And then I have to wonder (and I am not looking for any kind of validation here, this is really just a little self-examination here) that since at this moment our lives are somewhat similar- nearly the same ages, with kids the same ages, and we both make the same rockin' cookies, what kind of legacy would I leave behind if I were called home suddenly? Would it be just a tragedy that I left behind four little kids, or would my death have a farther reaching impact? Something to ponder.