Editor, Gazette-Journal:

When one goes back and reviews the highlights—the highs and the lows—of this year’s budget process, budget hearings and discussions, and budget decisions, it is apparent that Gloucester County is ready for some rainy day cookies.

So what, then, is a rainy day cookie?

When I was growing up as a child, my grandfather (Grandpapa to me) would purchase and serve little square, iced cookies to me and my little friends who lived in Springfield, Missouri.

We were part of a little neighborhood club; we had a secret handshake, and we had only one responsibility to follow—keep the pan of water full outside for God’s little creatures. Half of the cookies in the pack were white, and half of the cookies in the pack were pink. The white cookies were served to us on sunny days; the pink ones were served to us on rainy days. We learned to appreciate the rainy days as much as the sunny days, because no matter what, we got a cookie from my grandf...