BIRTHDAY CAKE!

Last Friday was my 55^th birthday. I’ve said before (ad nauseum…) that I don’t lie about my age but, I must admit, it IS a bit sobering to realize that I now qualify for the Tuesday Senior Discount at Ross…

Normally, I consider having another birthday a blessing, not a curse. It sure beats the alternative! But because I feel like I’ve spent the last year and a half marking time, both personally and professionally, I admit I’m finding this milestone frustrating. I'm at the same old bloody place: under-paid, under-utilized, under-loved, and frustrated (on many levels!).

I've now reached a time in my life where people my age are at least looking at retirement and I've not even got any assets.

Well, except for my genius. Yup, like Oscar Wilde, I’ve got "nothing to declare but my genius." Of course, I admit he had the "genius" thing down a bit better…

Back to Birthday Cake...and, yes, it needs to be capitalized.

Birthday Cake is pretty important to me. Not exactly sure why, but it might have something to do with growing up in a small town in Florida. Port Charlotte had just one bakery and my family only made the pilgrimage if someone was having a birthday.

Going to the bakery to order my Birthday Cake was a glorious occasion. There wasn’t much of a selection, really. There were no theme cakes or plastic princesses for the top or cakes with pictures in icing or even cakes with fruit filling. I’m not even sure if chocolate was an option.

But to my little-girl eyes, the fancy roses and icing swirls on the cakes seemed amazing. To the little-girl who still lives inside me, they still do. So much for growing up and getting all sophisticated!

Now, I have very definite ideas about what actually constitutes a real Birthday Cake (the kind with capital letters). Although I certainly believe that others have the right to have chocolate or carrot or whipped cream with strawberries – and most of the time I like all those cakes just fine - that isn’t a Birthday Cake to me.

MY Birthday Cake must be white cake with white frosting, perhaps flavored with a bit of peppermint. There must be flowers – roses and lots of them – and swags of frosting around the sides. The color is important, although I do like to vary that part from year to year. *sigh*

And there must be some leftovers! So I can put them in the fridge and have cold cake for breakfast afterward. YES!

But the sad truth is that I haven’t had a proper Birthday Cake for a long time. I just didn’t feel right buying one for myself and – because people can’t read my mind - nobody got one for me. To be honest, I didn’t really realize how much having one meant to me until last year when my youngest son and I were spent part of my birthday evening driving from Ralphs to Vons looking for a cake that would fit my ideal. (And – even with all that driving - we didn’t find one: they were all chocolate.)

BUT tonight is my friend Jenean’s birthday and I’m going out celebrating with her and some friends. I have the all-important role of cake-bringer. Luckily, Jenean and I both agree on the importance of Birthday Cake and this one will have both our names on it. (She insisted…this is why she and I are such good friends!)

So….HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENEAN! And thank-you-thank-you-thank-you for letting me share your Birthday Cake!