I made cookies

Some time in the past week or so my spouse asked me to make cookies. I obliged. I used a favorite recipe but couldn't find the brown sugar. I was certain we had some but couldn't find it. So I looked online to figure out a substitute. After "tweaking" the recipe I found that when I mixed it all up it didn't stick together like cookie dough normally does. I recalled that one of the resources I consulted online mentioned to use something like 3 less tablespoons of liquid when using (whichever substitute that source mentioned). Well. My dough wasn't sticking and I didn't use any liquid in my recipe so I decided to add some. I added about 1 tablespoon of milk and mixed it up. It was working, so I added just a little bit more. Then I dumped in the swirled chips and went to work plopping them on the sheet and threw them in the oven. I was pretty pleased with myself for figuring out how to make it work despite all the minor set backs. I went to share my ingenuity with my spouse whose reaction was not at all what I expected. I was told you never add milk to cookies (mentally I thought--unless it's after they are cooked and when one is consuming them). So I ended up a bit discouraged. When I pulled the first sheet out of the oven they were pale. I think I baked them for a bit longer (more tweaking!) and they never really did get very brown.

But you know what? I realized a little bit later--I had made cookies! They might not have been the best batch (or the worst either!) but they were cookies. I had used what I had available and made cookies out of it--yay for me! If my spouse didn't want to eat that batch of cookies, I would. Because despite the odds, I did make cookies. That's what we all do in life--we take what we have available to us, and do what we can with it. We don't need to listen to other people's concerns or judgements (or expectations, for that matter) about what our lives should look like. We can all make cookies the best we can with the ingredients we are given. And everyone likes slightly different qualities in a cookie. (By the way, my spouse did eat the cookies, and realized I had done well given the circumstances.)

I found the brown sugar slightly before throwing the cookies in the oven--but it was too late then. No regrets, no looking back. I just made those cookies. And you know what? I'm smarter and wiser for the experience!