I Should Be Eating Cake!

This whole week just feels wrong. Like Halloween without a pumpkin. Easter without colored eggs. The Fourth of July without a flag. It's like those dreams I've had when I wake up in the middle of the night and realize that it's Christmas the next morning, and I've done nothing--absolutely nothing--to prepare. No tree, no presents, no stockings, no ham or pies or candy canes. In my dream, I leap out of bed and frantically try to find a store open in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve--some way to fix what is wrong. And then, of course, I wake up.

But this is no dream. This is reality.

Saturday, my baby girl turned thirty. Today, another baby girl turns twenty-seven. And tomorrow, my first baby girl turns thirty-two. And, if that isn't enough, my newest daughter (2 1/2 years to me), is also blowing out candles tomorrow. In Georgia.

And the closest thing to a cake in my house was the pumpkin-chocolate chip cookies I made yesterday, and they're gone.

In years past there were always cakes. Lots of them. I confess, they weren't particularly fancy, like the ones my girls now create for their own little ones. Usually chocolate, whipped up from a cake mix, baked in a 9 x 13 pan, and decorated with chocolate frosting, sprinkles and candles. It wasn't that they were unique in any way--except in quantity. In September, I bought cake mixes in bulk!

Each of the girls needed her own cake with candles to blow out with the family. Then, of course, we needed cupcakes for the party with friends. And finally, back before schools insisted that treats be properly and professionally packaged, there were cupcakes for all the classmates delivered during the day. That's potentially three cakes.

Times three girls.

In four days.

So don't give me a hard time for not making fancy three-dimensional unicorn cakes. By the ninth cake, we were forcing it down.

But the cakes were only the beginning.

Every year, there were parties. Some years, we had three separate parties. And some years the birthday girls shared the holiday. I remember one year when all three had a slumber party--the same night--and I'm quite sure that we violated whatever fire code our little town had, with twenty-six girls plus our own family stuffed in a three-bedroom apartment! We had treasure hunts and scavenger hunts, played duck, duck, goose and the candy bar game. We had balloon relays and water balloon volleyball. We sang and laughed and chanted "heavy, heavy hang over my poor head, what do you wish with a bump on the head?"

Sweet memories.

Of course, all the birthday memories weren't wonderful. There was the time Amy and her friends were convinced that someone was chasing them and called the police. And the years when the birthday girl was inevitably found in her bedroom sobbing for some unknown reason. And the years when I resolved that next year, I would skip the party.

But today, as I sit in my quiet house, I find that I miss it all. I miss the cake, the off-key singing ("and many more, on channel four"), the wrapping paper and popped balloons strewn around the living room, the sleepless nights. Mostly, I miss my girls.

Happy Birthday Jenny, Christy, Amy & Kristi!

Jenny with Grandma Hastings, on her 2nd birthday

Christy at her 14th birthday party

Amy turns 11

Christy's 9th birthday party; Amy--6, Jenny--11

Amy's 12th birthday

Christy's 15th birthday

Jenny's 16th birthday party

Christy turned 18; Amy turned 15

Eating their cake--differently

Christy's 19th birthday

Jenny's 21st birthday

Christy--20, Jenny--22, and Amy--17