June 12, 2025

Birthday Cake

  1. Start with a clean house. OK, well, if not clean exactly, Your messes discreetly set aside. Company ready.
  2. Flour the floor, Inadvertently, as you Flour the cake pans, 7 of them, To make, as requested Chocolate and strawberry.
  3. Old champagne in the fridge, Was it leftover from Easter? Flat for weeks, Like so many things left around the house Past their prime, You failed to discard it. It works in the cake.
  4. While cakes are in the oven—batch 1 The recipe calls for: Compote, crumbles, Swiss meringue buttercream. Pick one. Add more flat champagne, why not?
  5. The chocolate batter now— Don’t lose your place between soda and salt, Miscount the eggs, As you look up To greet arriving guests.
  6. Serve dinner to a crowd— Paper plates. Careful, The broth drips Off the flimsy rims. Cake timer pings as you sit down to eat.
  7. You’re almost ready: Cakes cool on the counter, Compote bubbles on the stove, Butter at room temperature, A house full of people who love your daughter.
  8. Leave the table loud with laughter To beat butter and powdered sugar, Launching a fine sweet cloud To settle atop the floured floor.
  9. It’s time for cake, Not yet cooled, Not trimmed, The crowd awaits, the birthday girl Needs to get to bed. Frost it anyway, Tucking back in place The layers slipping like tectonic plates, Gliding on molten buttercream.
  10. Light seven candles, Turn off the lights, Don’t look at the floured, sugared floor, The accumulated pile of dishes, Drips of dinner, The tottering cake. Look up at the candlelit face Of your beaming daughter, Surrounded by love, Flush with joy.

Photo credit Curtis Yee.

To the members of the Mid-Week Retreat Core Group, who have become family and love our kids well. XOXO