Some Decisions are Bigger than Others

Putting my own indecision into focus, tonight a friend in South America asked me for my advice on a major life decision. He's been offered a position in Eastern Europe that will pay much more than he is earning now and that will have great benefits. There will be the huge responsibility of representing his company across Europe. He is settled in his home, loves his extended family very much and worries about leaving them, missing them. If he takes the offer, he surely will. It's a quality of life issue that may be insurmountable. Though there are tempting facets of the offer, I feel that he might consider turning it down - under normal circumstances.

What's abnormal (besides that this doesn't happen to just anybody just anytime) is twofold. First, he has to make this decision within days and he is wracked with the body-aching, high-fever flu. Second, his current workplace may be shutting down. That changes everything.

Because he is a dear friend, I feel torn for him. Because he is brilliant and wonderful I know he will be successful no matter what he does or where he goes.

I am too frequently paralyzed with indecision, preferring to go with the flow, accepting the status quo for far longer than I should. It's easier to glide through life without making waves. It's easier and more peaceful to accept that everything will happen as it should. I have stayed in situations longer than was healthy job-wise and personally too. But, that's really not earth-shaking. I've always tried to do what I feel is best for those around me, if not always for myself.

Now I am watching my friend make a big, big decision and I know that he will be fine no matter what he does. He isn't sure, but I see him as he can't see himself. He will be fine. And now I see what my friends have seen and know why they have advised me as they have. It is easier to see the greatness in others. It is so easy for me to see that mi amigo will be successful and happy - because that is his way in all things.

I have great confidence in him...and many times should have worked on my own.

Smash Cakes

Apparently I've been living under a rock for the past several years. Although the name is descriptive, I'd never heard of a smash cake before this week. As soon as you associate 'smash cake' with a one year old's birthday, you understand what it is. Though babies have been smashing their hands into their first birthday cakes for decades, there was no separate (for baby only) small cake before 2001. There may have been some smart parents making separate cakes for the occasion, but 2001 is the first reference I've been able to find for the aptly named little baby cakes.

Smash cakes can be decorated to match the larger cake generally served to adults and other children at the baby's birthday party, but they may just as likely be a large cupcake or any small iced cake meant for photo-taking time at the celebration.

I learned about smash cakes from Sandy, my grandson's lovely mama. She ordered a small bakery cake to serve as the hopefully photogenic smash cake that Jace will be allowed to have his way with at his first birthday party, which we are busily planning. (That's another post - just how big these first birthday celebrations have become.)

We have spent the past few nights working on the invitations. Only a few months since I introduced her to card-making, Sandy is now a full-fledged crafter. She has great ideas and skill and, as my friend Diana always says to me, "A good, quick mind." These party invitations are so cute! After the party I will post a photo of the smash cake! Before and after it's been properly smashed.