In a word, everything. To me at least, and probably to you too. Because if you are like me, your family is very important to you, and your family celebrates the traditions, holidays and people that makeup your family’s culture. And what’s any family’s culture without cake to commemorate some pretty key events?
When my 4th daughter was very little, she was also very shy, and absolutely refused to let me take her to Olan Mills, where her sisters were photographed every few months at first, then every year. My daughter Lara was stubborn too. If there was something she did not like to do that involved possible embarrassment, there was no coaxing, bribing, encouraging I could do to get her to comply with my wish. And going to a stranger/photographer in an unfamiliar building with a dark room, even with me right beside her, was right in there with singing a solo in front of 1000 people.
Since she was my 4th daughter, I had a little experience with this….that is, bribing, coaxing, encouraging, and probably some exasperated sighing!
But a photograph isn’t a hill to die on, and so, it was because of Lara that my relentless pursuit of learning the craft of photography was launched.
Lara turned 19 the other day, the day before I was to pick her up from college for spring break. My youngest daughter Maria and I planned with Lara’s roommate to show up on her birthday, and surprise her with a cake!
Now, I’m really not a baker, partly because for many years I didn’t have to be. I had 5 girls, and I have pretty much let them experiment with all sorts of food and recipes as they wished during their growing up years. To their credit, they are all fairly accomplished (some more than others, depending on their interest). Still, my skills in the kitchen have grown, though cooking is not the way I would choose to spend my time.
But for Lara, or any of my kids, I really put myself out there. I found a very interesting looking cake on the web and thought I’d give it a go. No box cake for my 19 year old! 
In spite of the fact that I was making this important cake, I was also talking on the phone to my mother-in-law and got the teensiest bit distracted. I accidentally omitted 1 cup of flour, but before I poured the batter into the pans, I noticed the batter was pretty runny. I guessed that was what I’d omitted and I fixed it. Isn’t that typical of our busy lives? We do so much at one time, and before you know it, the moment is behind us.
Sometimes, we can use a little help with important things. I managed to get the cake done, but there are just so many other things we need to do, both in our personal lives and in our business. We might be able to pull off the extra project, fix the website, create the blog post, do the photography. But let’s face it, the time you spend on one thing HAS to come from something else.
The cake was phenomenal. Worthy of the occasion and the girl. However, next year I think I’ll go to the bakery and have it made for her. I will enjoy that too.
