My Great Grandmother's Side Hustle
This past weekend we celebrated my mom’s 80th birthday. During the chaos of a family vacation, I was able to spend a little quiet time with my dad hanging out by the pool. He told me a heartwarming story about my great grandmother, Mom Mom Miller. When I think of my great grandmother, I think immediately about her green thumb. Friends and neighbors would bring her their struggling plants and she would magically bring them back to life. But it turns out what I don’t remember is that she was also an incredible baker.
I learned that she would make dozens of cinnamon buns twice a year. Taking special orders from relatives as far as Philadelphia and Delaware and then these relatives would travel an hour or more to Trenton, NJ to pick up their orders. My dad described to me how she would make so many buns that they would fill her kitchen and living room. Mom Mom Miller did not have a fancy kitchen or a large one but this was not an impediment. She worked around it. Made it work. Figuring things out seemed to be her MO — probably going back to her challenging childhood. She lost her mom when she was a teenager and helped raise her six siblings. She went on to have two daughters and then four grandchildren and four great grandchildren. She lived to 102 years old.
I just love the idea of her sharing her baking skills with her family. I love how the family participated by making their specific orders (e.g. nuts, no nuts, etc) and taking long drives to her home. I imagine that when people came in to get their cinnamon buns there was conversation and connection and reminiscing and joy. She created an opportunity for gathering before there were text chains and zoom calls and other ways to stay connected. My guess is she put her heart and soul into baking these cinnamon buns, and it also required organization and communication and lots and lots of logistics.
All I could think of is how can I recreate something like this? I love to bake and I am finding my way learning to cook. I feel like I can summon my great grandmother’s and grandmother’s spirits when I cook. I love baking for others—could this be genetic? I do not have my great-grandmother’s green thumb, but I do love to care for animals and people. There are so many ways to express love. So many ways to be generous. We just need to look around at those before us to figure out what fits.
