The Friendly Neighborhood Baker

Roughly two years ago, I wrote a post about the bakery I used to visit as a child and the cookies I remembered buying there at Christmas time. Please go read that post, The Elusive Finkemeier Cookie, and then come back to this. Well, that post was a message in a bottle. I wrote it, threw it out into the ocean that is the internet and never expected anything in return. So, I was absolutely shocked when I received a new comment on that post just last month from a man named Bill Crum, Sr. It turns out that Bill owned the Finkemeier Bakery for many years and baked the very cookies that I had written about. Within days of that first comment, I heard from Bill's daughter, his son, his niece and two bakers that worked at Finkemeier's, Peggy and Butch. Bill and I struck up an e-mail conversation about the bakery and good times in the old neighborhood. Fortunately for me, Bill still bakes and he graciously agreed to bake me some butter cookies. So, this past Wednesday in Kansas City, Bill and I met in person and he brought me six dozen, beautiful, hand-made cookies and was kind enough to let me take some pictures. Check that link and you can see the cookies and a few other pics.

On the way to Kansas City, I told the kids the story of the old bakery and the Christmas cookies. I told them about Bill and explained that we were going to meet him and be able to taste the Christmas cookies that I used to eat when I was a little girl. When the time came, they were very excited to meet Bill and they loved the cookies.

Later, after Bill had gone, Miguel said to me, "Mama, you shared your cookies with us and now they're our cookies. Maybe someday, I'll tell my children about them too". This is the power of a good story - it connects us all, through past, present and future.

So, Bill...if you are reading this, thank you. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and then getting in touch with me. Thank you for your willingness to bake all of those cookies and then taking the time to meet me. More than anything, though, thank you for this amazing story. You've given me an incredible gift...a small taste of the past.