My family had done pancakes in the past on weekend days but never religiously like we started doing in 1999. My cousin Gayle had come to live with me in NH with her 3 young boys. We prepared many meals together for her boys and my son but the favorite, by far, was Chocolate Chip Pancakes on Saturday mornings.
As much as I love Blueberry (or any other pancake creation), we always made Chocolate Chip. Mainly because that is what the boys wanted but also because it was special to build a tradition. We all sat down together and enjoyed a meal that everyone loved. No one pushed the veggies around their plates, no one complained that they didn't like it, there were no leftovers, and everyone smiled.
While Gayle and the boys were only with me for one short year, I was tickled pink to learn that the pancake tradition lived on. I was visiting for a few days before a business trip and much to my delight, Gayle announced Chocolate Chip pancakes were on the menu for breakfast one morning. Yum! I hadn't had them in years! She explained that the tradition had moved to Sunday mornings but that the boys insisted on having their pancakes. *sniff, sniff* It felt like back home again!
Flash forward to 2013: I was visiting Gayle and the kids (the boys are actually men now, and my chickie girl is 12) and unfortunately had to leave before James' birthday dinner on a Sunday morning. I did whip up a batch of pancakes before I left and put them in the microwave for any sleeping boys who may be hungry when they woke up. But mostly I made them for James' birthday. I hope he enjoyed them as much as I enjoy the memories of James at 2, tossing his binkie in the toilet, James at 9 helping me to cook when I came to stay for a week in Horton, James at 17 playing in the band, all grown up, and still willing to hug his Auntie in public...
HAPPY 17th BIRTHDAY JAMES!
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