Bena Mae’s Kitchen: Making a difference

Once upon a time there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.
One day he was walking along the shore. As he looked down the beach, he saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself to think of someone who would dance to the day. So he began to walk faster to catch up. As he got closer, he saw that it was a young man and the young man wasn’t dancing, but instead he was reaching down to the shore, picking up something and very gently throwing it into the ocean.
As he got closer he called out, “Good morning! What are you doing?” The young man paused, looked up and replied, “Throwing starfish in the ocean. The sun is up and the tide is going out. And if I don’t throw them in they’ll die.”
“But, young man, don’t you realize that there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it. You can’t possibly make a difference!”
The young man listened politely, then bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves and said-
“It made a difference for that one.”
I thought about this story as I started my day this morning. All this week my mind has been occupied by the devastating illness of one of my oldest and dearest friends. She is in the hospital after suffering a stroke that has left her unable to communicate. The diagnosis doesn’t look good.
I thought about the simplicity of her life since she retired a number of years ago.  But instead of becoming a recluse or traveling the world, she joined a group of ladies who knitted caps for cancer patients who had lost their hair, and provided hospitals with handmade blankets and other items for the terminally ill. Each time I called her, she would say she was knitting or crocheting something for people in the hospital.  At last count she told me she had knitted over 100 caps for chemo patients who had undergone cancer surgery. She is herself a cancer survivor.
And I thought about how many lives she had touched through her unselfish acts of kindness over the years. And how many recipients of the hundreds of hours she spent in helping others, never knowing her name, but comforted never-the-less by the thousands of stitches that had gone into making their lives better.
She has made a difference. One stitch at a time.

You may want to save this recipe.  It is super moist, one of the best Carrot Cake recipes ever.

Grandpa Sam’s Carrot Cake

3 eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups shredded carrots
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple with juice
1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour an 8×12 inch pan.
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine eggs, buttermilk, oil, sugar and vanilla. Mix well. Add flour mixture and mix well.
In a medium bowl, combine shredded carrots, coconut, walnuts, pineapple and raisins.
Using a large wooden spoon or a very heavy whisk, add carrot mixture to batter and fold in well.
Pour into prepared 8×12 inch pan, and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour. Check with toothpick.
Allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.