The Greatest Picture Ever Taken

Oreo Cookies

The very thought of them can motivate toddlers to do just about any chore, eat any vegetable, and do almost anything asked of them. Every great business manager finds the just the right knobs to turn to get the desired result in the least amount of time. I have but one knob that turns the terrible twosome...the dynamic duo...the toddler terrorists: Oreos!

One day, after coercive measures motivated Gabe and Emma to finish supper (the thought of Oreos), we started eating Oreos. Now you have to understand that we are Oreo snobs in our family. Don't bring us any of those non-traditional types...we want just the original. Double Stuff is for people who don't know how to get the most out of a cookie. So, we sat there, Gabe, Emma, and myself, with our cups full enough and a spoon each, and we began to eat Oreos. It was a thing of beauty to watch my children drop their cookies in the milk and patiently maneuver the cookie round and round until it was ready. It is not easy to get a toddler to wait for a cookie, but Gabe and Emma just get it. It's all about the texture. So, we patiently move the cookies to and fro, drowning them occasionally in the bottom of glass with a dunk, then it's time.

In our family we don't break up the Oreo...we don't take a bite of it, we don't risk crumbs. It's all or nothing baby! Even when the cookie doesn't quite fit into the hole, you have to have faith, use a little dexterity, and maybe use the free hand to force it through, but it's the whole Oreo at one time.

One night, as we ate Oreos, I noticed Gabe was getting an Oreo mustache. Actually, he was working on a full goatee. It was complete fate as we were not aiding the process at all, just giving him cookies. After he had eaten several...ok, maybe 6, I noticed the goatee had promise.

Now, as you can see, it was filling in nicely, but it wasn't quite there. And as any responsible parent would do, I decide to give Gabe more cookies to see if it would fill in all the way.

So Gabe kept eating Oreos...maybe he was up to 8 or so at this point. I was worried that he was going to get sick soon...so I decided to only give him enough to fill in the goatee...then we were done!

After about his 10th cookie, it was done. Sick or not, we had a picture that would transcend any sickness of the day. This was a picture for the ages. Who could blame a father and son seeking to make history if only to risk a little tummy ache on the way. What would have happend if the Wright Brothers would have stopped flying after getting a scraped knee? Pioneering too hard? Why not just stop 10 miles west of Nauvoo and call it good? No way, some things are worth the sacrifice. Some accomplishments are worth risking sickness and health for a higher cause. Gabe and I strangely understood that moment in time. We got it. We were not eating Oreos for the pure pleasure of them anymore...we were eating Oreos for our posterity.

The Greatest Picture Ever Taken!