I was just talking to my good friend….she has kids about the same age and we went to college together (seems like decades ago). She just moved out to Scottsdale, Arizona because her husband was relocated for work. The kids were super homesick……I guess it’s pretty shocking to go from New York City your whole life to desert living at the ages of 6 and 9.
So, here’s the anecdote…that’s all it really is….one of those warm moments where you think….”Is life really easy when you’re a kid?” Sometimes the answer is yes. The kids went out with their Father to pick some stuff up for the new house…they had literally just landed in 90+ degree phoenix heat, straight out of the NY cold. They came moping back into the house and saw this big massive snowball of a cake sitting on the kitchen table. Yes, a snowball cake…complete with the coconut….but, it really looked like a snowball.
My friend called me in tears this afternoon as she began telling me this story…they were happy tears, I think……she couldn’t believe how her kids suddenly let their guard down, stopped blaming their parents for dragging them away from everything they knew for just a few minutes. For those 20 minutes in which the kids were entertained, and surprised by what their mother had whipped up in the 2 hours they were gone, they were that perfect family again…everyone was happy.
The idea here is not that their mother made them a cake…if that’s what you take out of this then you’re missing the point. The moral of the story is that my friend did something for her kids that showed she understood…..sometimes words aren’t the best way to communicate with your kids…sometimes it takes action (or icing!)…even if those actions are small, if you strike the right note they ring truer than words ever could.
Turns our her “secret recipe” wasn’t so secret, she got whole thing from the Kraft website……..check it out….lots of goodies to entertain just about everyone. They even have a video that shows you how to do it!
