Just not quite right

Early this morning, I whipped together a batch of yeast dough to set to rising on the old woodstove.  I figured if I had to keep stoking that fire, I might as well make it do double duty.  The house soon smelled of bread dough which made me think of the delightful goodies to come from that growing blob.  To be honest, this mainly started because of my son, Michael, mentioning the Pecan Sticky Buns that "Aunt Ree-ree" used to bake.  This took me back to a time when the kids were small.  "Aunt Ree-ree" was their name for my Aunt Marie.  She lived just across the way and always welcomed my three tykes into her house.  She never questioned their fists full of "ditch daisies" that they offered her. Nor did she worry about their grubby bare feet. She loved them and they her.  It seems that one of Michael's favorite memories was being called to "run over and get some rolls."  The three kids would tear out of the house leaving the screen door slamming behind them.  Those rolls were none other than the Pecan Sticky Buns and she made the best!

I remembered that a few years ago, my cousin sent me the recipe.  After letting that dough rise while we went out back to chop and stack more firewood, I hunted that recipe.  It was a pretty simple technique and after just a bit, my two pans of Pecan Sticky Buns were sitting in the ooey gooey goodness of brown sugar and butter.  They needed to rise one more time before sliding the pans into the oven.  Oh, my goodness!  Those things looked divine already and they were not even baked yet!

Once the pan came out of the oven, Michael and I couldn't wait!  I turned the pan of rolls out on a plate to let the sugary goodness drizzle down onto the buns.  He poured us each a glass of milk and we sat down to have a taste.  I waited as he ate his first bite.  He looked at me and said "Close..really close."  Smiling, I knew that was a compliment!  Sometimes, things are never "just as good" as the way we remember them but that is the good thing about memories.  I know that no matter how hard I try, I will never to make those buns "just right".  Whether the mind has a way of idealizing pleasant things from the past or whether Aunt Ree-ree had a magic touch, mine will never be the same....and I am good with that!