Friday, October 16, 2009

The Power of Carrot Cake

As many of you know I lost my mom and my kids beloved "Gramie" in February of this year and I would like to share something that happened the other day with my kids that has me missing mom pretty deeply.

Grab a tissue and hang on - this is going to be a bit of therapy for me.

I need to flash back to July 2008. Gramie rented a cabin on Lake Huron for a week in Caseville, MI. This was right after she was given a clean bill of health and declared cancer free. The week before Gramie baked and cooked a bunch of stuff in between her last rounds of chemo to the brain so that we wouldn't have to spend the weekend preparing meals. One of the things she made was Carrot Cake.

Now flash forward to this past Wednesday evening. I'm grocery shopping with my youngest son, Logan. As we are flying around finding the things I need, like uncooked Barley, we pass through the baking needs isle. Out of the blue Logan says "The last time I had Carrot Cake was with Gramie and we ate it for breakfast watching the sun come up."

I have to tell you it took an extreme amount of control to not break down and cry right there, as it was tears welled up and spilled over. But a few deep breaths and redirecting thoughts to finding that damned Barley and I was back to whatever my normal is these days.

Or so I thought.

Later that night Samantha comes home from work. She works at the local Graeters which is an ice cream and bakery store. She comes in hands me a bag and said "I brought cake home for you." I look inside and there is a piece of Carrot Cake! I started crying and of course she, and Jim ask me why? So I explain the statement that Logan made in the grocery store, at which time Samantha starts to cry and said "oh man I didn't even think about that when I grabbed the Carrot Cake"

That July vacation was to be one to heal and celebrate. And we did! None of us missed a sunset and Gramie and I rarely missed a sunrise even when it was a bit cool out and she had to bundle up.

Sunset on Lake Huron

We built one hell of a Sand Castle

And played in the water


I'm sure in my life time there will many events like this to make me pause and take a minute to savor the Carrot Cake.

5 comments:

  1. Oh I am so sorry to hear of your loss... I know the pain you are feeling all to well. I lost my dad suddenly 4 yrs ago this past week. I can totally relate to the thought of "whatever my normal is these days", I feel like I have a hole in my soul that can't be fixed!! I kept thinking that things would become easier for me and they really haven't.. Your mom sounds like an awesome lady and it sounds like she must have had a hell of a fight to go through.. I will pray for some peace for you...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you Country Girl. I had read your post but could not comment as I was too emotional and I know there are no words to heal this pain. I too have lost my dad, suddenly. He passed away in 1997. He was 47 yrs old, my mom was 56.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow!! I would say that was a little communication to you from your mother....wanting you to remember the good times. The Lord works in mysterious ways.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you Pony and Regina. It was definitely a little tap on my shoulder to say "hay I'm thinking of you too".

    ReplyDelete

Happy Trails!

~Jeni