By Susan Dromey Heeter,
Joyful Musings
There is nothing so blissfully wonderful as a stellar whoopie pie. Nothing. A good whoopie pie is pure bliss, pure chocolate and worthy of musing joyfully for days, weeks, months…
Susan Dromey Heeter
This week I had the opportunity to head to Exeter High School for both a volleyball game as well as a soccer match. Both events were lovely in and of themselves, little slices of life, but when I noticed a bake sale happening in the hallway outside the gym, my heart stopped.
Susan Dromey Heeter gets to enjoy a day with her sister
Let’s face it, there is nothing like a good bake sale. And this one had not only chocolate dipped apples, but huge chocolate chip cookies, rice krispie treats and, wait, whoopie pies with pink frothy filling. Mercifully, I scored the last whoopie pie and, if heaven has a taste, it will taste like this chocolate delicacy.
I think myself a whoopie pie connoisseur, a whoopie pie diva and this one brought me right back to my mother’s kitchen. I could taste the real chocolate, the cream was whipped to sugary perfection.
I shared this whoopie pie with my sister – who found it equally as wonderful. And while the soccer match took place beneath the lovely New England foliage we basked in the chocolate of a stellar bake sale. I muse joyfully on bake sales not only because I love desserts but I am entranced by those who provide the contents of a good sale.
Mothers who decorate apples with dipped chocolates and ribbons are my heroes. Mothers who create lovely rice krispie treats and melt chocolate are those women I bow down to. Truly. I am in awe. My go-to bake sale option is popcorn. It tends to be popular, I bag white popcorn made with oil and fine sea salt and label it “Vegan, Free Range and Gluten Free.” The popcorn filled in brown paper bags tends to go quickly but there is no artistry behind my “baking.”
And the artistry behind a good bake sale is just that: artistry. A good bake sale celebrates time and creativity and pure love for children, for causes, for community. The Exeter High School bake sale was sponsored by the Volleyball Booster Club. How do I know this? I wrote a check for $15.00; everything cost a buck. Who can resist such a bargain? And those goodies not only enhanced the soccer game, but the drive home and dessert for my husband.
Thank you, bake sale creators and supporters. I muse joyfully on bake sales and simply adore the work and kindness behind such love, such joy , such creativity.
Thank you especially to that baker of that whoopie pie. Truly. An October day with a whoopie pie beneath the New England foliage watching a soccer game, laughing with my sister? Does it get more perfect? I think not.
Bless you for that chocolate bliss. I muse joyfully on your talents and thank all of you behind that artistry of love, of baking, of a stellar whoopie pie.
Susan Dromey Heeter, a writer from Dover who recently let her hair go au natural white, writes “Joyful Musings” for InDepthNH.org. Dromey Heeter is a secondary Spanish Teacher at Dover High School and the mother of two teenage daughters. Writing has been her passion since her English majoring days at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Dromey Heeter has lived in The Netherlands, Alaska and currently basks in all things New England, including the frigid winters. An avid swimmer, Dromey Heeter’s great passion is to bring back body surfing as most children have no idea how to ride waves without ridiculous boogie boards. She also writes about thrift shopping and all things frugal in a column called “Budget Vogue” for the New Hampshire Union Leader.