Lessons from a Birthday Cake

This morning we were on our way to bring our excited little birthday boy to school when Troy accidentally sat on the box of his cake while going up his car seat.  This was how it looked like afterwards.

I held my breath for a few seconds. I wasn't sure whether to go home and come up with a remedy or rush to the nearest bakeshop and buy a new one. Both ideas were not really feasible. We were running late so fixing the cake at home was not an option...and at 7 in the morning, all the commercial bakeshops were still closed.

I panicked and said 'Oh no, Troy, your cake is sira na! Later your classmates will ask why your cake looks like that'. Troy responded with 'No, they will not say that naman.  And it's okay, mommy, it's only a cake. It's still yummy!'

Today, my son turned four years old. But today he proved to be a bigger person than I was. He kept me calm while i was stressing over something so trivial. He gave me perspective on what is truly important. The icing may be partially gone and the design ruined. But hey he's right - the cake is still yummy.

As i walked Troy to school, i recognized a dad who recently lost his 2-year old daughter to dengue. And I thought of the blessing of being able to celebrate Troy's 4th birthday with him today. So what if the cake is ruined or things did not go as planned? It wasn't so important after all.

I watched my son excitedly head to his classroom with joyful anticipation of celebrating with his classmates.  I smiled at the thought of the funny birthday cake and prayed that my son will have the time of his life.


**Troy already came home from school as of this writing. And yes, the pictures that his teacher took proved that God did answer my prayer. Troy had a blast :)