In almost all the houses I know of, people are still bringing themselves out of the New Year’s Eve stupor. The new year has kicked in…and everyone is just about getting used to writing and saying 2016.
In almost all houses but one that I know of, this stupor persists. There’s one house where birthday celebrations are being planned out. A birthday that lands right on the 2nd day of the new year. Thus ensuring there’s always enough time to plan a birthday surprise.
That house is ours’. Here I am, putting the final touches to a birthday cake. Years have passed since the first gift I made him. He was a friend back then. Someone who rarely received gifts. The struggling artist in me was touched. And year after year, I churned handmade gifts. Greeting cards, an annual calendar, a hand-painted pillow cover, letters when I could think of nothing else.
Years have passed but not much has changed. The struggling artist in me still feels the need to create. To satisfy the creativity in me rather than materialistic him.
As I put the last bit of icing on the cake (and unfortunately just literally), the cake begins to fall apart. The upper layer begins to crumble in front of my eyes. My sleepy eyes open wide. I am aghast. So I quickly cover it up with spare sprinkles. I go all out and be as creative as I can before the clock strikes midnight. But the cracks are still visible…
And just as my efforts throughout the years have been crushed to the ground, this one would possibly be no different. After all, the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. And here I am, serving him a cracked cake.
Yes, the cracks are still visible as are the ups and downs we’ve been through in all the years we have known each other. But yes, we covered up those cracks with generous layers of sprinkles too. Sprinkled moments of happiness and shared ignorance.
Ideally, this should have been a lovestruck post of what I feel about him. Wouldn’t that have made a wonderful birthday gift? But he reads between the cracks and understands. He eats the cake and grins.
And just as with life…
That’s the way the cake crumbles 