Banana Bread: A Heartwarming Story

I promise to finish the driver's license story before week's end. But first, a quick tale to warm the cockles of your cynical hearts: (Ha ha... he said "cockles.")

Sunday morning, I baked banana bread for my cousin, Stacey. Stacey is one of my first cousins on my mother's side and one of my favorite people on earth, along with her sister and brother. They're roughly the same ages as my sisters and I, and some of my happiest memories of childhood involve vacations spent with our family and their family together -- in Miami, where they lived, in New Jersey and Long Island, where we lived, or in Aspen, CO where we all skied together one glorious winter.

All the cousins together for Granny's 90th birthday.

Stacey is second from right.

For most of this summer, Stacey has been battling breast cancer with incredible bravery and fortitude. She is currently recovering from surgery and continues to handle whatever comes her way with tremendous grace and good humor, as do her kids, Alexa and Max.

Anyway, she mentioned in one of her recent mass emails to all of us who love her that she appreciated all the cooking and baking people have been doing for her. It hit me then that I should send her some of my famous (at least in my mind) banana bread.

It's a simple recipe, made extra-moist and delicious by a giant quantity of sour cream:

6 Ripe Bananas, Peeled and Mashed

4 1/2 Cups of Whole Wheat Flour
3 Cups of Sugar

3 Eggs

3/4 Cup of Butter
3 Teaspoons Baking Soda

1 Teaspoon Cinnamon

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1 24-Oz Container of Sour Cream

Beginning with the sugar, butter and eggs, combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix thoroughly. Pour into four small greased loaf pans and bake at 300 degrees for one hour. Done.

I mentioned to Stacey via email that my banana bread was in the works. She replied that she and the kids would be eagerly awaiting it, and could I please add chocolate chips? Personally, I think the chocolate chips overpower the flavor of the bananas, but who am I to argue with a cancer patient, right? So chocolate chips it was.

Not a photo of the actual banana bread I baked, but mine looked exactly like this, I swear.

BW and I kept one of the four loaves for ourselves and gave one to a neighbor. That left me with the challenge of shipping two loaves from San Diego to South Florida overnight without their becoming stale or getting pulverized en route.

Cut to later that day, as BW and I were walking through the parking lot of Blockbuster Video in our neighborhood. I spotted a California driver's license on the ground and stopped to pick it up.

"Oh, look," I said, scrutinizing the photo of a handsome, short-haired woman. "Some lesbian lost her driver's license." For the sake of this blog, I'll call her Christina Crawford, because she looked a bit like the actress Diana Scarwid, who portrayed the daughter in "Mommie Dearest."

Wow: That's two "Mommie Dearest" references in the last two blogs. I'm getting gayer by the minute.

"What are you going to do with it?," BW asked me.

"I'm going to try and find this woman," I said. "God knows if someone found my license, I'd want them to do anything they could to find me."

When we got home, I googled "Christina Crawford" and "San Diego." I had considered simply mailing the license to the address printed on it, but BW pointed out that Christina could have moved since then. There were no google hits as far as a phone number, address or place of employment. But I did find a Christina Crawford in San Diego on Facebook, although there was no face photo on her public profile. I gave it a shot and sent her a message:

Hi, my name is Adam, and I live in Hillcrest. I just found a driver's license on the ground with the name Christina Crawford. If this is you, reply to this message or call me at 917-xxx-xxxx so I can get it back to you.

Best, Adam

Two hours later, I got a reply:

yes. i was looking every where for it. If you want u could bring it to the ups store I work at in Hillcrest. Thank you so much and if you do not have time, u could mail it to me. Thanx again

Christina

UPS store? It was fate. (Though not terribly surprising, given that she's a lesbian.)

The next morning, before work, I pulled into the UPS parking lot, banana bread in hand, to return Christina's driver's license. I spotted her immediately, loading a cart outside the store.

Christina thanked me profusely for returning her license to her. I explained that I was also there to send banana bread to my cousin who was fighting breast cancer. We chatted a bit, and she told me about her sister, who also survived breast cancer some years ago. As we talked, Christina boxed up the banana loaves for me all nice and secure and had me fill out the paperwork to ship them to Stacey. When I pulled out my credit card, she shook her head.

"This is on me," she said.

I spoke with Stacey moments ago, just before posting this blog. I wanted to make sure she was OK with my writing about her illness, and to make sure the banana bread arrived safe and sound. Yes on both counts. She's feeling much better this week. And she was also very happy about the chocolate chips.

Stacey's daughter, Alexa, has started her own page on the American Cancer Society's web site, which you should visit and donate to by clicking here.

I love you, Stacey -- keep staying strong.

Homo heartwarmed. ♥