A Treasured Memory by Diana Lesire Brandmeyer

I graduated from high school in January, but I didn’t start college for two weeks. It was the first time my brother had to go to school and I didn’t. Mom would be at work and I would have the house all to myself.  I couldn’t wait for Monday morning to send my eleven-year-old brother out the door.

My seventeen-year-old self was pretty mean to him. I could pull off quite the haughty attitude when I wanted, and I wanted – a lot. There were comments about sleeping in, wearing pajamas all day and enjoying the lack of noise from a boy.

The second day my brother went back to school he wasn’t very pleased with me, and I had begun to feel sorry for him. I knew he would rather stay home than be in school.

About an hour after the school bus picked him up, the snow started to fall. Huge, heavy flakes filled the yard and covered the street. I was pretty sure they would let school out early.

The radio announced the schools were closing early. I wanted to do something to make my brother smile. One thing always did. Chocolate chip cookies.

I flung open the cabinet door hoping mom had a package of chocolate chips hiding in the back. She did. Soon flour was flying. Butter and eggs were being creamed. And yes, I ate some of the raw dough.

The first pan was out of the oven and the house smelled like Christmas. My brother was going to be so happy. I just knew it. I watched out the window as the bus made its way down the steep hill by our house.

The timer sounded its alarm. I ran to the oven and took out the last sheet of cookies as he came hollering though the door.

“Cookies! You made cookies!”

“I thought you’d like them. Besides I’m sure you’ll be going back to school tomorrow.”

He frowned and took a handful of cookies to his room.

God must have frowned too, because there was so much snow the roads were impassable, and my brother didn’t return to school until the day my college classes started.

Now when it snows I often make cookies, and I think of him and smile. We had a lot of fun those two weeks playing in the snow and baking more cookies together.

Bio  Christian author, Diana Lesire Brandmeyer, writes historical and contemporary romances. She is the author of A Bride's Dilemma in Friendship, Tennessee and We’re Not Blended-We’re Pureed, A Survivor’s Guide to Blended Families. Once widowed and now remarried, she writes with humor and experience on the difficulty of joining two families be it fictional or real life.

Diana's latest book, Mind of Her Own, was recently released from Tyndale House.


Mind of Her Own

Who knew making dinner could change your life? Louisa Copeland certainly didn’t. But when the George Foreman grill fell out of the pantry onto her head, resulting in a bump and a mighty case of amnesia, Louisa’s life takes a turn for the unexpected. Who was this Collin fellow, claiming she was his wife? And whose kids are those? Her name couldn’t be Louisa. Why, she was the renowned romance writer Jazz Sweet, not a Midwestern mom of three. Struggling to put the pieces together of the life she’s told she had, Louisa/Jazz may realize that some memories are better left alone.

Visit Diana on her website and blog, Facebook, and Twitter (@dianabrandmeyer).