We visited some friends this weekend in Chicago, well one of the northwest suburbs of Chicago. Despite the frigid temperatures, we had a great time. In their dining room, on the sideboard, is this cookie jar, brazenly inscribed with the eighth commandment, “Thou shall not steal.”
I bring this up as it reminded me of a story I posted about ten years ago that I am going to recycle with some small revisions. Enjoy.
Once upon a time, back in the day, when my kidrens were still knee-high to the proverbial grasshopper, my arm could still be twisted to get me to attend Sunday church services. My son, David, must have been around 4 which would have put my daughter, Keely, at 8. We were living in Oklahoma City, attending a Baptist church fairly regularly. Sporadically, before the main sermon, the preacher would have a children’s story. In the front of the church was a low stage with steps leading up to the pulpit. He would sit at the front of this stage and ask the children of the congregation to gather around him.
This particular Sunday he did that, made his invitation to the children, and off rushed our two kids. I do not remember exactly what the story was about, but it did involve a cookie jar and the partaking of the contents unauthorized.
The preacher looked at Keely and asked her, “Do y’all have a cookie jar at your house?”
To which she replied, “No.” Then she brightly added, “No, but we have a cookie bowl and Mommy hides it from Daddy as he gets into it all the time.”
The whole church burst out into laughter and turned to see me slinking down in my pew.
And so it went back in the “day”.
My Uncle Dutch is not a tall man, and he has what we affectionately call a Buddha belly. I know that he was skinny once upon a time. I have seen pictures of him when he was young and in the Navy, but that is not the Harry Dodd I know. He is elderly now, with white hair, and it is hard for me to not think of him in a suit and tie. The first thing that you will probably notice about my Uncle is his smile. While he doesn’t smile all the time, it is certainly there more than it isn’t. And it is the type of smile that just lights up his whole face.