Eat Cake – Take Two

Update: Yeah, I bummed you out and I apologize. I realize how tough it can be bear the truth, but you are going to get through this… You are strong; I really believe that about you. To help, Drew and I thought you could do with a dose of funnier memories. Mom did leave us all with that. Ah, her sense of humor was… Well, it was its very own thing. Coupled with her hearing loss, it became the source of many laughter induced belly aches at many family functions.

Firstly, on the subject of cake: it was was mom’s favorite food group. I never knew her to shake a fork at cake. She did avoid chocolate cake in her last several years when she realized that chocolate triggered her migraines, though. It was always kind of sad on Donna’s birthday, because her favorite is definitely chocolate, but we had vanilla so that mom wouldn’t have to watch everyone else eat cake without her. (I still carry around loads of guilt over all of the chocolate I ate in front of her; I am her child, no doubt.) That’s not the point of the story. The point is that mom had this kind of wonky luck that did things like make chocolate cakes appear under white icing inside containers marked ‘white/vanilla’. Thankfully, the last time this happened, we had purchased the cake at Publix (mom developed a serious affection for the Publix bakery after they came to town). After Donna had sliced into the cake, revealing the undeniably dark sponge underneath the beautifully white whipped icing, mom wavered. Her bottom lip quivered. She checked the label. Her bottom lip quivered again. Mom thought she would be missing out on cake – until Donna declared that we should march ourselves and the suspiciously dark ‘vanilla’ cake back to Publix to exchange it, “but not until after I get my slice of chocolate cake!” Mom was amazed that her daughters were so balls-y that we would not think twice about returning a cake that had been sampled, stunned that Publix gave us a new cake without asking any questions about the missing piece, and thrilled to bits that she did not miss out on cake that night. And she liked to tell that story.

Secondly, on the subject of cake (well it WAS her favorite food group and it WAS the topic of the blog post, so it’s the subject twice, ok?!): that last birthday we celebrated with mom included a cake that mom loved (from Publix). We also shared loud conversation on account of her slowly deteriorating hearing… Anywho, as we were leaving the restaurant mom shouted, ‘excuse me!’ When everyone looked at her in confusion, she finished, ‘I just farted. I can’t be the only one who didn’t hear it?!’

Mom wasn’t here when this cake disaster happened, but it definitely makes me think of her when I look at it and I ache to tell her this story and laugh with her about it. She would have reveled in polishing off these pitiful tumped over ones… I mean, they are not fit to take anywhere – but cake should not ever go to waste. That would be sinful.

Four months is a long time for me to go without speaking to my mom. And I am feeling really guilty about not getting her a cake for her birthday this year.

If you can, call your mom. If you can’t, get your hands on some cake and then call someone else.

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