The Joy of Sharing

Friend or family, if you stop by my house chances are you're going to get fed. Since food is one of our basic needs it only seems logical that this is one that we should share. My mother was the one that taught me this valuable lesson. It began with her when she and my father started out their marriage in ST. Louis in the 1930's. Out of work men and Hobo's would pass through their yard searching for work. My father who highly believed in sharing what ever you had would tell my mother to feed those that passed through. So my mother who was the Queen of stretching a meal would make bread and pass out sandwiches to those down and out but grateful men. She said she would never forget the faces of those men and what it must of meant to them that she shared what little she and dad had. My mother carried this lesson of sharing food as we all grew up. Times were hard but she still found a way to make enough to share with others and shared she did. When we would get off the school bus at the end of the day and started to walk down the dirt road to our house you didn't have to walk far till you could smell the sweet fragrance of cinnamon, yeast and brown sugar and knew Mom had baked her sweet rolls all day. All the counters would be filled with tray after tray of high raised sweet rolls drizzled with Mommas homemade icing. There would be baking dishes full of my prized Poppy Seed rolls a favorite from our grandparents homeland. These were rich rolls full of walnuts, poppy seed, butter and brown sugar lazily sleeping inside layers of moist and tender pastry. As you can see they were my favorite. As soon as we had one roll a piece and a glass of milk Momma gave each of us a large tray and shooed us out the door to deliver them to our much grateful neighbors. Momma was teaching us a valuable lesson as one by one we knocked on those doors and extended those goodies to out stretched hands. I'm sure our neighbors could smell the yeast baking all day and was very excited that Momma would share the fruits of her labor with them. The act of "giving" gave us a wonderful feeling even though we knew the mountain of pots and pans that faced us when we got home. The joy of Sharing is something that should be taught at an very early age, knowing of course that toddlers all go through a "mine" phase that hopefully passes and is replaced by the wonderful feeling you get when you share something with others. Answer me this. If we horde our treasures do they have any value??? Do they only come of value when they are shared with others? For those of you who answer yes to the second question you are a person who is rarely alone because your values attract other people to you. You are most likely a very giving and outgoing person. Teaching our children to share must be taught by example. A giving parent will teach their children the joy of sharing and giving. So start a family tradition of sharing this fall and the up coming Holidays. What ever you decide to do make it a family affair. These are valuable lessons and ethics that will last your child a lifetime. Till my next post may this fall day be filled with pleasant surprises, good food and the chance to experience the joy of sharing. Aunt Onie