Piece of Cake

So when stuff happens like an alarm system flare up that disables your vehicle, a flat tire, a broken toe, or even a dead girl found in her apartment from a drug overdose... all of which are added to the multiple activities, appointments, deadlines and commitments that are already set in motion... and you wonder how you're going to get it fixed, make it work, be there for everyone, succeed, and maybe find an outlet for your stress so you don't explode...I always try to have the attitude that things will work out, say a little prayer, believe that things will work together for my good, trust, experience the small miracle, recognize it as such, and be grateful.

Since I couldn't run [away] and sweat out the added stress of recent events [because I didn't have enough stress in my life already], I decided some baking was in order. One morning, I acquired a recipe for pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting and was pretty sure I had all the ingredients. Nope. I soon realized that this cake proved to be a metaphor for my life.

Sometimes you don't have any pumpkin, pretty much the main ingredient. But you have sweet potato to substitute with. Sometimes you don't have any white sugar. But you have some raw sugar and some brown sugar. You might not be sure how it will work as a substitute so you just have to hope that it will do. Sometimes you are worried about the flour which is really important in baked goods. You don't have enough in the main jar so you have to dig through your pantry in hopes of finding some stashed away somewhere. Lo and behold, you find some extra and it is exactly enough. Sometimes you are short on the cream cheese but you throw it in the frosting anyway because you don't want the little you can provide to go to waste. Oh and instead of using a standard cake pan, you use a sheet cake pan [much bigger] because sometimes you need to stretch what you have so that it is enough for you, your family, and others. Our lives can be much this way. In the end we may have done the best we could to follow the recipe but end up yielding a make-shift, improvised end-product.

Not to brag but rather to illustrate my point, this little "pumpkin" sheet cake of mine turned out to be pretty incredible, all things considered. I was able to keep some for my family and share the rest with friends at the Institute. One guy said it melted in his mouth, another that it was really delicious, another that it was so light, another [actually more than one] scarfed way more than they anticipated to. Now, I am my greatest critic when it comes to cooking but I don't even like cake and I thought it was good. Most people were really surprised after they took their first bite [I guess they didn't think I could cook or something] and by the end of the evening, the pan was cleared. I was happy, they were happy. And things worked out.


Sometimes life can be a piece of cake.