FROSTING
Lately, I've been forgetting about the frosting.
I have been a tired, ornery as a bear, pregnant woman! I whine about growing pains. I complain about the pregnancy hormones that are waging war on my face. (Seriously, I can't decide whether I look like an advertisement for Domino's pepperoni pizza or the victim of a craniofacial fork stabbing.) I frequently indulge in hypoglycemic rants, with the only cure being an oatmeal cookie from Great Harvest. I'm mean and snappy, sleepy and hungry!
Last week--during a particularly mean, snappy, sleepy, and hungry day--Lilly and Cam asked me for a cupcake. They had just eaten their lunches and were hankering for a sweet treat. (Nothing wrong with that, considering I take to heart the task of teaching them the importance--and necessity--of dessert!) I gave them the cupcakes and within minutes they were asking to be excused from the table. I obliged--my back turned to them as I attempted to scrub the dishes in my sink. They ran off to play. (Or kill each other. Same difference.)
When I went to clean off the table, I was met with a surprise. Two cupcakes remained!
The frosting was gone.
"Why would they eat the frosting and leave the cupcakes?," I asked myself. It seemed silly. A waste of perfectly moist and delicious red velvet cake.
Then it clicked. A-ha! The frosting is the additive. The sweet stuff that improves the taste of the cake. The good stuff.
Lately, I've been forgetting about the "frosting." It's easy to do, right? Sometimes it's easier to focus on the pregnancy acne and the achy hips and the naughty kids and the bills and the fatigue and the stress and the overdue library books and the deadlines and the messy house, and on and on and on...
But what about the "good stuff," the figurative "frosting" that adds a little sweetness to life? Like a nice note from your neighbor. Or watching joy streak across your daughter's face as she rides her bike. Sitting by a friend in church. A verbal "thank you" for doing the dishes. Baby kicks that make your belly jump like hot, corn kernels! An elated, "Mommy!," when you walk through the door. Popsicles at midnight. A "Diet Coke on ice" delivery from a dear friend. It's all frosting! And as my children eat the literal frosting off of their cupcakes first, perhaps I should follow their example and make my "life's frosting" my focus.
Besides...what is life, or a cupcake, without the frosting anyway!?!
I have been a tired, ornery as a bear, pregnant woman! I whine about growing pains. I complain about the pregnancy hormones that are waging war on my face. (Seriously, I can't decide whether I look like an advertisement for Domino's pepperoni pizza or the victim of a craniofacial fork stabbing.) I frequently indulge in hypoglycemic rants, with the only cure being an oatmeal cookie from Great Harvest. I'm mean and snappy, sleepy and hungry!
Last week--during a particularly mean, snappy, sleepy, and hungry day--Lilly and Cam asked me for a cupcake. They had just eaten their lunches and were hankering for a sweet treat. (Nothing wrong with that, considering I take to heart the task of teaching them the importance--and necessity--of dessert!) I gave them the cupcakes and within minutes they were asking to be excused from the table. I obliged--my back turned to them as I attempted to scrub the dishes in my sink. They ran off to play. (Or kill each other. Same difference.)
When I went to clean off the table, I was met with a surprise. Two cupcakes remained!
The frosting was gone.
"Why would they eat the frosting and leave the cupcakes?," I asked myself. It seemed silly. A waste of perfectly moist and delicious red velvet cake.
Then it clicked. A-ha! The frosting is the additive. The sweet stuff that improves the taste of the cake. The good stuff.
Lately, I've been forgetting about the "frosting." It's easy to do, right? Sometimes it's easier to focus on the pregnancy acne and the achy hips and the naughty kids and the bills and the fatigue and the stress and the overdue library books and the deadlines and the messy house, and on and on and on...
But what about the "good stuff," the figurative "frosting" that adds a little sweetness to life? Like a nice note from your neighbor. Or watching joy streak across your daughter's face as she rides her bike. Sitting by a friend in church. A verbal "thank you" for doing the dishes. Baby kicks that make your belly jump like hot, corn kernels! An elated, "Mommy!," when you walk through the door. Popsicles at midnight. A "Diet Coke on ice" delivery from a dear friend. It's all frosting! And as my children eat the literal frosting off of their cupcakes first, perhaps I should follow their example and make my "life's frosting" my focus.
Besides...what is life, or a cupcake, without the frosting anyway!?!
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