The Power of Making a New Tradition

As we navigate this period of staying at home, I find that patients and their families are reaching out to encourage me through this season.

One patient's spouse shared the following story.

When I was a girl my mother would help me and my three siblings make up a batch of Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie dough. And then we would all sit on the floor and watch as the cookies would slowly rise and then quickly fall signalling that they were done.

Decades later I talked with my mother about this tradition and commented that I had never seen another family that sat together on the floor to watch cookies rise. My mother said, "You know why I did that?"

I responded, "No."

My mother said, "Those were my darkest days. It was my therapy."

I replied, "We never knew. It is one of my happiest memories."

My mother said, "That was the point."