There’s a cake in the house, and there will be another one on Saturday. In-between, quite a bit of ice cream.
The one currently downstairs is a bakery cake, a one-quarter sheet cake, the kind you get for birthdays and baby showers and . . . in this case . . . congratulations. The hubby was promoted, which is nice. It won’t mean more work for him, which would be impossible, but it does mean a little more moolah, which is always welcome.
So I got the call late yesterday afternoon, and immediately went into Good Wife mode, which means getting a cake with “Congratulations Bobby” on it and making a really nice dinner.
But oh, cake.
It’s right up there with ice cream as a “problem” food. And it’s not just me; my daughter, Sky, is just as bad. I’m sure that’s all my fault. The thing is, my son doesn’t seem to be as bad as the rest of us. Still, Trey’s known for midnight raids on the pantry, usually decimating the cereal supply.
“They” say food should not be used as a reward, and yet it’s firmly ingrained in our culture. Sure, a card and balloons would have been nice, but everyone – including the hubby – would be looking for the cake.
Saturday, Sky graduates from high school, and if there isn’t a cake, there’ll be hell to pay. We’ll probably all go out to dinner, but I’ll likely never be forgiven if there isn’t a big, honkin’ cake on the dining room table when we get home. Now, about the threat of ice cream . . .
Sky is having knee surgery tomorrow. This will be her fourth surgery in four years. Yes, you read that correctly. This is the all-star cheerleader, the athlete, the one who wants to major in orthopedic medicine. (Surely by now you can understand why.) We survived the entire 2009-10 cheer season with no more than the usual bumps and bruises – including her first black eye – but what happens? I’m picking her up after practice, she opens the passenger door, sits down, swings in the left leg, then swings in the right and says “ow” – lowercase, just like that. No exclamation point, just “ow.”
Next day, lots of pain. Fast forward to the next week: Orthopedic surgeon confirms she has a torn meniscus and another type of ligament injury. As I said, this is the fourth one since 2006 – two on her right ankle, one to repair a torn meniscus on her left knee, so hey, she’ll have a matched set – so I the only emotion I could muster was resignation.
Recovery from her previous knee operation was the worst of the three, pain-wise, and she usually doesn’t have much of an appetite the first few days. Except for ice cream. Not yogurt or applesauce or cottage cheese – ick! cottage cheese! – ice cream. And of course, we’ll have a big, bakery cake Saturday to celebrate her graduation.
Think I’ll be spending all day Sunday in the gym.
Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread and pumpkin pie. . ~ Jim Davis
Leslie J. Ansley is an award-winning journalist and entrepreneur who blogs daily for TheRoot. She lives in Raleigh, NC.