The first time I ever had a Great American Cookie® was at a moving “goodbye” party for two of my friends when I was ten. I think the cookie was the length of the table, or at least to a ten-year-old it seemed that big. I must have drowned my sorrows in eating cookie because I don’t remember much else besides saying goodbye and crying.
Yet, the love of the Great American Cookie® has lived on!
Unfortunately, I don’t currently live near a Great American Cookie® much to my dismay. It causes some sadness in my life.
My most vivid memory of Great American Cookie® is from my 18th birthday.
I had finished high school through American School® a little over a year earlier. Instead of going to college right away, I chose to devote my time doing correspondence college courses, harp, and voice–learning recording and going to master classes. Yet I still didn’t have my driver’s license.
After I opened my presents, Erik excitedly declared–as only he can say it, “Now you can order things on TV!”
There on the shelf was a beautiful, rectangular Great American Cookie® that said “Happy Birthday, Jillaine!”
But the day was to get more exciting. That day Erik and I went to our first driver’s ed class but ended up switching classes and starting with a different teacher a week later.
So I remember two things about my 18th birthday: False start of Driver’s Ed and Great American Cookie®.
Somehow not living near a Great American Cookie® makes me want to introduce one of my favorite jazz songs: “‘Round Midnight” (sung by Ella Fitzgerald). I love it for all of its harmonic complexity and the fact it was written by Thelonious Monk, my favorite jazz pianist! I absolutely love to not only hear him play, but watch him play in recordings! No sadness here as I approach my birthday without a Great American Cookie®! Only great memories and great music!
