by Christina Daniell

Created on: November 07, 2007   Last Updated: April 28, 2010

"Peanut Butter Crackers"

I was five years old when I happened to overhear a conversation between my Aunt Dollie and my grandmother. Aunt Dollie was dramatically complaining that her husband always seemed to be hungry. Every time she turned around he was munching on this or that and he still would tell her he was starving come dinner time.

I didn't bother to stick around for the rest of the conversation because what I had heard had really stressed me out. You see my aunt's husband, Uncle Wylie, was my favorite uncle and I couldn't bare the thought of him going hungry. So I set my five-year-old mind to work and came up with a solution to the problem.

When Uncle Wylie came in from working on my grandmother's car, I waited till he washed his hands and had sat down at the table with a cold glass of tea. I crawled up on to the chair beside him and handed him a piece of paper.

"What is this?" he asked with a quizzical look upon his face.

I proceeded to explain how Aunt Dollie had complained to grandma that he was always hungry. And since I didn't want him to be hungry anymore, I wrote him a recipe.

Uncle Wylie thought this was hilarious and Aunt Dollie was completely embarrassed at being caught discussing his appetite. He assured me that thanks to my little recipe he would never be hungry again. Happy with that thought, I went off to play.

I am now 29 years old, and saw Uncle Wylie last month for what I am sure will be the last time. Since I live 6 states away, I don't get to see him very often. He is in his late eighties and suffers from severe Alzheimer's disease. On my last day visiting with my aunt and uncle, he was having a "good" day. Good day meaning he knew who he was and who the people around him were.

We were all sitting around the kitchen table enjoying a cup of coffee when Uncle Wylie got up and wandered off to his bedroom. A few minutes went by and we could hear him digging around in his closet. Aunt Dollie asked him what he was looking for and he yelled back that he needed his lock box. After finding it below the nightstand, he rummaged through it for a minute.

Uncle Wylie came back to the table and handed me a small, worn out and stained piece of paper. Placing his hand gently on my shoulder and bending down to kiss the top of my head, he said that because of me, any time he got hungry he would open this up. He said that it had come in handy many times over the years and that I should have it back since he wouldn't be needing it for much longer.

Completely confused, I opened the folded paper and to my surprise, found the recipe I had written for him so many years before. The top line said "Peanut Butter Crackers" and there was even a slight smear of peanut butter near the bottom right corner of the page. With a tear in my eye and a smile on my face, I kissed his cheek and said that I was glad to be of some help.

Here is the recipe:

"Peanut Butter Crackers:

You need 2 crackers, peanut butter, and a butter knife. Don't use a sharp knife cause you will cut yourself bad.

Open the peanut butter and scoop some out with your knife. Spread the peanut butter on one of the crackers. Take the other cracker and put it on top like a lid. Now you have a snack so you won't be hungry anymore!"

The recipe thought up by a little girl concerned for her favorite uncle and a picture of that wonderful uncle, now sits framed on my desk.

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