Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie

 One morning during duty last week,

A student gave me a Twizzler.

I assumed that she had a pack in her bookbag and was freely handing them out.

I was wrong.

Instead, she had a zip-loc bag that held three lone Twizzlers.

She gave me one of her three Twizzlers.

That’s real love from a 1^st grader.

 

Twenty something years ago,

During my first round of teaching,

Teresa Jennings wrote a song called,

“You Gave Me Your Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie”:

 

“You gave me your peanut butter chocolate chip cookie

And I heard it was your last.

I thought you were gonna eat it

You must’ve thought I’d need it, since lunchtime had gone right past.

You gave me your peanut butter chocolate chip cookie

Now I know that it’s all true

Only real friends would sacrifice a cookie like that

That means I’ve got a real friend in you

 

You gave me your peanut butter chocolate chip cookie

What a selfless thing to do

It was your favorite kind of munchie, all chocolatey and crunchy

I knew what it meant to you

You gave me your peanut butter chocolate chip cookie

Now I know how friends should be

Cause a real friend would sacrifice a cookie like that

That means that you’re a real friend to me”

 

I taught this song to my students and we performed it as part of a larger program.

I have no idea what other songs we performed.

I just remember this song—

And I remember working with Barb the Art Teacher to make enough tiny peanut butter chocolate chip cookies to hand out to everyone leaving the show.

 

Yes, the song is catchy.

Yes, it becomes an earworm.

Yes, Barb and I jokingly sang it to each other and still do so to this day.

But more than anything else,

The song is sweet

(No pun intended :-p).

It speaks of a small sacrifice that shows true friendship…

And in a world where people are starving for connection,

These small sacrifices are more important than ever.

 

Maybe it’s a soda or snack from the vending machine.

Maybe it’s going out of your way to make a visit.

Maybe it’s a phone call.

Maybe it’s a hand-written card.

Maybe it’s slowing down to listen.

Maybe it’s covering a duty for a coworker.

Maybe it’s not saying something mean when the words are on the tip of your tongue.

Maybe it’s a Twizzler.

 

Whatever it is,

I challenge you to give someone a “peanut butter chocolate chip cookie” today.

Who knows?

They just might remember it twenty something years later.

I know I did.