Sharing the cake

I had a carrot cake in the freezer. I made cream cheese icing two days before. I wanted to ice the cake but it was just us in the house so I knew we would eat it all. I made the call, "Come for tea" and Caroline came over and we drank cups of herbal tea one evening and laughed and ate the cake. There were a few good pieces left and I wrapped them up for them to take home to their family. Some things are definitely meant to be shared. A cake is one of them.

And there are other things too. A good book is meant to be passed from hand to hand as soon as you finish it. And I have different people who like different books. Heather gets sent my mysteries. Joan, my sister gets contemporary fiction. Sometimes a book reminds me of someone and I pass it to them. I like to give away my books when they are fresh and in great condition. There is something about a well kept book that makes it better to read. So unless they are one of my few keepers they never land on a shelf and go directly into the giveaway bag. 

I always like to share my favourite herbal teas. I buy extra boxes so I have them to take if I am invited to a friends house. Once I was at my friend Denises and was in the cupboard looking for a bag and there was the box I had given her a year earlier unopened. So sometimes it works out good for me. I opened it and had my fave right there with me in the Wentworth Mountains. 

And recipes, another good thing to give away. My friend Joanne gave me a recipe for a halloumi sweet potato bowl with zaatar that I am going to make tonight. I have a whole file folder on my frame of recipes that people shared with me. There is Mary's butter chicken, Donna's oatmeal cookies, Linda's butter brickle, my mothers cherry cake. All these recipes are attached to a person. They make me think of that soul. Including the carrot cake I mentioned earlier, that was from Carolyn. 

Cake, books, tea, recipes... I sound like woman cause I am, and an older one at that. And proud of it. I have built a life around sharing these things, a life built around bringing and receiving gifts of bread from neighbours and it is good life. A life about home and cozy and safe and sound. These little things when shared increase our lives, they make our small lives richer and bigger. I am not a person who revels in big things. Luckily, I can find contentment at home in small things. And I am grateful for that. It is good, and it is good for me.

At times when I am tender and unsure, this makes me feel as If I am choosing a small life. But when I sit and share a cake with friends on a Tuesday night I know that I have chosen the life that is right for me. And in those times I know that there is no such thing as a small life.