Cookies

In 2023, my wife and I visited a friend in Houston, TX, and while we were there, I told them about a funny dream I had: A chaplain I knew from a local university waved at me from the back of a cave while my friend that I was currently visiting was Face-timing me and eating a tray of chocolate chip cookies. At the time, I was telling my friend and his wife this story, because as soon as I woke up from that dream, the chaplain texted me. It was very weird to see the chaplain wave to me and then wake up to a text from her. As I was telling my Houston friends this, they both start laughing and the wife said "The best part is that if you sat a plate of chocolate chip cookies in front of him, you're likely not to get your hand back." I had no idea that my friend had a sweet tooth for chocolate chip cookies.

Recently, my Houston friend passed away in a tragic incident. Two days after we got the news of his passing, my wife and I were at a hotel in Franklin, TN. We had dropped the kids off at their grandparents' houses, and we're getting ready to go to dinner. My wife comes out of the bathroom and says "I can't get over this... I just need a sign that he's okay, they're okay and everything will be okay. But I swear if they serve us chocolate chip cookies or have them on the dessert menu, I'm going to lose it. I know that sounds crazy, but I will."

Two minutes later, we get a knock on our door. My wife goes to answer it. It’s the hotel turndown service. As my wife opens the door, the maid hands her a bag of 2 chocolate chip cookies. She was so surprised she couldn't even speak. In 39 years, I've never gotten chocolate chip cookies for turndown service, so it was quite the shock.

For the next five minutes, my wife and I just stare at each other, mesmerized by what just happened and on the brink of tears. It just didn't make sense.

On the way to dinner (3 minutes later), I texted my business partner and told him what happened. By the time we rode the elevator down, I received a text back from him. It was a picture of him holding a chocolate chip cookie that said, "Is it weird that my new neighbor just brought me chocolate chip cookies, and they just moved from Texas?"

I can't express what I felt in that moment, but I knew my friend was telling us that everything was going to be okay.