Those of you who have been reading my posts for any time at all know that I believe everything happens for a reason. And everything is ultimately a blessing. I believe this with every fiber of my being. But every once in a while something happens that throws me for a loop. Something will happen that really puts me to the test. And its usually not something life altering. Not something major, but serious enough to require an attitude adjustment.
I am a master cake decorator. Over the last 35 years, this hobby has brought a lot of joy into my life and I hope I have brought happiness and fond memories to all who enjoyed one of my cakes. I have decorated many, many wedding cakes and have enjoyed making every one of them. When my children were small, I had a strict rule that they could watch me decorate, but they had to do so at a distance of at least my arm’s length. If I held my arms out and rotated in a circle, they could not be within the circle. On my side of the family, there are 26 neices and nephews. I’ve made wedding cakes for each of them with the exception of one. And I’ve decorated many more for friends and friends of friends and ,of course, my own kids, grandkids and the children of my neices and nephews. This weekend, I made a cake for the son of one of my nieces. It was a beautiful three tiered lavender frosted cake adorned with purple violets.
My husband, Kerm, needs a special medal for putting up with me when he helps deliver a cake. The delivery is the most difficult part of every wedding cake. Every bump in the road is painful for me, especially when the weather is hot. A light, fluffy cake frosted with buttercream icing does not do well travelling down a bumpy road……. and it’s torture for me! This time we decided to avoid traffic and take less travelled roads. We avoided the traffic alright, but not the bumpy roads. Finally we arrived at the wedding site. I put the finishing touches on the cake, set it on the cake table, and Kerm and I took our seats to witness the wedding. We were about half an hour early, so we enjoyed chatting with family as we waited for the cremony.
Just as the ceremony was about to begin, I glanced accross the room at the cake. It looked like the top layer was sitting at a ‘cock-eyed’ angle. I blinked my eyes to make sure I was seeing what I thought I was seeing. Sure enough, my granddaughted also looked at the cake and said…..”Grandma, the cake looks weird.” I quietly rushed over to the cake table, took hold of the glass plate and rushed the cake into the kitchen. The top layer was crashing into the middle layer and one portion of the bottom layer was falling off. Yikes! ……..How can this be happening? I’ve made a gazillion cakes and never had this happen. I had to grab the top layer leaving my hand print in the icing to keep it from falling further. My head was spinning……..”How can I recover from this? The cake is an important part of a wedding. What can I say to the bride and groom? How can this be happening? Can I just disappear? Take me now, Lord.” I felt totally responsible for the disaster; “How can I salvedge this cake?” I said a silent prayer for help as I continued.
I decided to focus on the top layer because at least it was in one piece. I removed the top layer and literally spooned the middle layer into a large bowl. That layer was now just a large bowl of mixed up frosting and crumbled chocolate cake. I put the bottom layer in the refridgerator. At least most of it could be served to the guests.
I had to start over with the top layer. I smoothed the frosting and removed the decorations and borders. Fortunately I brought extra icing so I could redecorate the top layer. After about twenty minutes which seemed like an eternity, the top layer was presentable. Now, instead of a three tiered cake, the happy couple had only a small one layer wedding cake. So much for freezing the top layer to serve on their one year anniversary.
Everyone was helpful, supportive and sympathetic, but I just could not stop crying. The groom gave me a hug and told me it was OK. He and his bride had admired the cake when it was looking beautiful and they did get some pictures. Just the same I could not stop crying.
Now let’s get back to “There is a reason for everything” and “Everything is a blessing.” So now what possibly could be the “Reason” and what is the “Blessing”? I believe the reason is a lesson and that lesson is, in fact, the blessing. The lesson is that nothing outside of us can make us anything we choose not to be. Everything is a choice. Sometimes things happen which we cannot control and it is up to us to decide how we will react. The important thing for the newlyweds is that they love one another and are ready to begin their lives together. That’s the cause of the celebraion. Things like wedding cakes or details about their reception are not as important as their love for one another.
For me the reason was so that I could expreience the love shown to me by all who tried to comfort me. It reassured me how kind and forgiving people can be. It was a humbling experience which definitely knocked my ego down a peg or two which apparently I needed. But I still could not stop crying, I guess it was because I so wanted to give the newlyweds a sweet and beautiful gift. Instead of my giving a gift, a gift was given to me. Thank you to all who helped me through that night.
For now, Earlynn’s just sayin: “Always look for the hidden reason and trust there is a blessing in everything that happens.”
http://earlynnsjustsayin.org/daily-inspirational-thought-5/
If you would like to read Earlynn’s book, Transformed, just click on the ‘Earlynn’s Book’ tab above to order your copy. Thank you. God bless.