SWEET TREATS

By: Cynthia Litman

Pearl of the Day: A Cornucopia of Pleasure

As Halloween approaches my spirit starts playing all sorts of tricks and treats and I am thinking of Erma Bombeck’s pearl “Seize the moment.  Remember all those women on the Titanic who waved off the dessert cart.”

Sweetest Treats

Every celebration is sweeter with cake. My grandmother used to always have a “surprise” Carvel cake for birthdays. In fact, Fudgy the whale joined us this past weekend for my dad’s 60^th. I remember planning my wedding and researching the symbolism of the cake. 

Why is it that we have cake?  Well, if you take a cue from the Roman Empire it symbolized male dominance over the female. No thanks.  Search again.

I remember reading in one of my multi-cultural books (which I’ll quote when it surfaces), something like all the hopes and desires that one has, becomes infused in the “earth” form of the flour and when shared it’s one bite closer to manifestation. This works for me and I believe it’s bad luck not to have a bite of the occasion cake. 

We often are on automatic and forget the meaning of what we do and why.  Yet, I am programmed to treat myself when I’m feeling down or low, like coming off of last week’s super intense radio show. While some women will go out and buy a pair of shoes, I head straight to the kitchen to bake a cake, cookies, brownies..... something.

I have insanely sweet teeth and have yet to meet a brownie sundae I haven’t liked. That said, I know that grasping for that sweetness is to try to fulfill a masked part of me. To bad it’s not until I peer up from my icing covered coma that I remember this. 

What sweetness am I really craving? Well, it hit me this weekend.

I was watching my kids at a fall fair, exploring the pumpkin patch, bounce house and then suddenly without prompting, they began to walk hand in hand.  They were in lock step, talking to each other and laughing as they went off to go feed leftover bread to the fish in the pond.

I just watched and seized the moment to soak in the day – clear blue skies, sun shining, cool dry weather and realized, “it really doesn’t get any better then this”. Well, add in the chocolate chip cookie I was eating and the equation was complete.

Life can throw such curve balls and keep you easily distracted. We all have our fair share of challenges to barrel through. Yet, we often forget about life’s simple pleasures. The sweetest moments are waiting for you to notice and to just play, be, stop for a moment and give thanks.

These are the moments our children thrive in. My daughter is like a pixie and watching her flutter about is like magic. Through my children’s eyes I see glimpses of heaven and the sweeter side of life which brings me back to center.

Celebrating these small moments are the sweetest morsels of life. And yes, I will have another.

Copyright © 2010 Cynthia Litman d/b/a Tigris Imprints. All Rights Reserved.