I love Spring…such a welcome change after a long, harsh winter…and Easter is definitely a favorite holiday. Dog lover/friend Sara shares this Easter memory:
Easter is always special to me, but last year is especially memorable. I had promised to bake a cake for the church’s annual pre-Easter bake sale, but with all the activities going on, I forgot until the last minute. Thankfully I managed to find an angel food cake mix, which I quickly baked. I set the cake on the table to cool while I finished a few chores, and didn’t notice that Scout, our newly acquired puppy, had creatively managed to plant a paw print right in the middle of the cake. Scout had already been in more trouble than any dog I had ever met. My best friend insisted that he suffered from a serious case of Attention Deficit Disease, but I excused him as just going through the “normal puppy phase.”
Frantically I looked around the house for something to build up the center of the cake, and found it in the bathroom—an almost empty roll of toilet paper. I plunked it in the middle and covered it with icing. The finished product looked like a real work of art, if I do say so myself. Before I left the house to drop the cake off at the church and head for work, I woke my daughter and gave her money and specific instructions to be at the bake sale the moment it opened, buy the cake and bring it home. However, when Amanda arrived at the sale, and discovered that the attractive, perfect cake had already been sold, she grabbed her cell phone to call me. You can only imagine how difficult it was to concentrate at work, so it was later than usual by the time I checked out. At home, a total mess greeted me. Scout had somehow gotten the lid off the waste basket, and trash was scattered throughout the house. Oblivious of the havoc he had created, he quietly lay on the living room floor, chewing on one of my new Easter shoes.
I had already RSVP’d that I would be attending the Women’s Easter Luncheon the next day, so I promised myself that I would try to not think about the cake and would go and enjoy myself. I left a very unhappy pooch in his seldom-used crate with a toy and treat and headed to the church. The meal was elegant, but I almost fell off my chair when our table hostess presented my toilet paper cake for dessert. Our minister’s wife, sitting next to me, murmured, “What a beautiful cake”… She looked at our hostess. “I didn’t know you were such a gifted baker. It is almost too perfect to cut into.”
Alice looked embarrassed and placed her cutting knife on the table. “Guess I better ‘fess up. I didn’t bake it. It was such a busy week; I just bought it at the bake sale. I am sure it will taste better than any cake I would make.”
As she picked up the knife, I realized that it was ‘now or never.’ All eyes focused on me, as I stuttered and stammered the entire story. “Well,” said Alice, pulling out the sticky toilet paper roll. “I say we try it and see if it is as good as it looks.” It was good…nobody seemed to care that Scout had touched it….and everyone agreed that it was a perfect ending to a perfect lunch.
As I recall that day, I am thankful that I have such understanding friends, and am thankful that Scout has outgrown most of his bad habits. Most of all, I am thankful for the most precious Easter gift of all, the resurrection of Jesus. Hopefully my story has made you smile, and may the glory and promise of this day bring you joy and happiness. Alleluia. Have a blessed Easter.
