Who doesn’t love a truly great doughnut, pastry, or loaf of bread? How about the smell of baked goods fresh out of the oven? Almost everyone has at some time in their life been in an old fashion bakery, and walked by the display cases and looked through the glass at the array of handmade delectable delights lined up all ready to eat. Have we ever paused and consider what was going on behind the scenes to create these treats—the loving hands, the early morning hours?

Sadly, these days and in most places, loving hands have been replaced by “Doughnut Robots” that spew out thousands of doughnuts per hour, all lined up perfectly on a conveyer belt ready for mass consumption.

Fortunately, I had the privileged of growing up around a hometown, homegrown family bakery, where loving hands did all the work, where tired backs made all the sacrifices, and loving hearts added a sweetness that just cannot be massed produced. This was a place where in addition to all the sugar and butter, flour and frosting, there were lots of laughs and tears of joy and sometimes frustration. There were also warm and rewarding relationships with co-workers and customers—real life ingredients that made the memories of my grandparent’s bakery both sweet and priceless—lessons learned for a loving life.