• Start Here
  • Blog
  • Books
  • Table
    • Together at the Table
    • Food and Such
      • Beverages
      • Bread
      • Breakfast
      • Main Dishes
      • Vegetables & Sides
      • Soups
      • Desserts
  • Writing
    • On Family
  • Happy Designs
  • Connect
    • For You
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

Happy Go Stuckey

Tethering Grace & Togetherness

On Birthday Cake and Why You Should Eat It.

May 26, 2015 by HappyGoStuckey 6 Comments

You should most definitely, absolutely always, eat cake at your child’s birthday party.

cake

No matter what weight loss plan you are on, when serving cake to all those tiny friends of your little, go ahead and serve yourself a little one too.

Because whether you delivered them after hours of rhythmic breathing, your loudest wail mingling with their very first cry–
or you lie in forced paralysis in a paper shower cap while a Doctor skillfully freed them from their tiny living quarters–
Today is your day too.Scanned Pictures 030

Maybe you stood in front of a judge and signed the most beautiful piece of paper ever with tears streaming and so much hope as you took them in your arms and turned to go home.

This day is just as much yours as it is theirs.

That is why as you stay up until midnight, hanging that funky pennant banner and blowing up balloons– you will still be smiling to remember their very first day. It wouldn’t be right if you didn’t greet their birthday bleary eyed and stumbling towards the french press– Just like every other beautifully exhausting day of parenting. You’ll be laying out ninja turtle napkins and green lemonade and their first little baby grunts will be echoing in your ears. Little hands grabbing fistfuls of air as they search for your warmth. It’s always been you, from the very beginning._MG_6022From the first newborn diaper swallowing their wrinkly frame to the first time they giggled and shimmied out of your reach mid-change. They keep growing and we keep cheering them on.
Scanned Pictures 144We remember to put the candles on the cake all the while remembering their very first wobbly steps. We could no sooner forget the day they were born than our own names and each year that goes by we take plenty of photos with the camera, but we take still more with our minds.

IMG_3711

First taste of sweet potatoes, Click. First roll-over, Click. First night in a big kid bed, Click. First trip to the zoo, Click. First day of school, Click, Sniff. First, first, first–Click. We are the memory-keepers and whether you have found the time to keep all those moments in a Shutterfly book or you keep them all in your big mama heart, you keep them just the same. 

And even when they grow a little too big and our memory keeping gets quieter and more personal– to avoid the side-eye and the mortified whisper of “Mom!“– We will keep right on celebrating.
We will forever be, the faithful remember-ers.

IMG_7553

We will celebrate every year on this day– yes; but even more so– all the beautiful anything but ordinary days in between.

So grab that slice of Cinderella cake and a pink plastic fork and dig in to that slice of sugary goodness– and make sure they see you celebrating it all. You can eat salad tomorrow. But today– today we eat cake.

Addition and Subtraction— Making Adjustments to Create Space. (Drowning in the Mess of Yes, part 2)
Drowning in the Mess of Yes, part 3.

Comments

  1. Jolene says

    May 26, 2015 at 9:32 pm

    Love this! Happy Birthday to the beautiful birthday girl!

    Reply
  2. Jolene says

    May 26, 2015 at 9:32 pm

    Love this! Happy Birthday to the beautiful birthday girl!

    Reply
  3. Linda Blythe says

    May 26, 2015 at 10:06 pm

    Beautifully written by a beautiful Mother of a beautiful little girl- my precious granddaughter Lucy! Happy happy happy birthday!

    Reply
  4. Linda Blythe says

    May 26, 2015 at 10:06 pm

    Beautifully written by a beautiful Mother of a beautiful little girl- my precious granddaughter Lucy! Happy happy happy birthday!

    Reply
  5. Amber says

    May 27, 2015 at 8:03 am

    Everything thing in this was beautiful. That porch!!!!!! Yes, eat the cake. Eat a small piece but eat it. They are watching you.

    Reply
  6. Amber says

    May 27, 2015 at 8:03 am

    Everything thing in this was beautiful. That porch!!!!!! Yes, eat the cake. Eat a small piece but eat it. They are watching you.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe and receive a Free copy of “Simmer: Six soup recipes and the Stories that Inspired Them.”

Your personal information is safe and will never be shared.

Hey There!

I'm Cynthia and I'm so glad you're here. I am an introvert with an extrovert's love of gathering people together. I love good books and capturing moments. Whether you visit me here or on my own front porch, I'll be the one holding the Iced Coffee for us both.

Instagram

happygostuckey

Just in case you need the reminder, not everything Just in case you need the reminder, not everything blooms at the same time.

If you find yourself in a season that requires all of you— all your energy, time, and mental space— Take Heart.

The truth that life is made up of seasons and no season lasts forever— is perhaps the greatest comfort for those who suffer.

Seasons slowly fold their way into another, taking their place in line.

Often what we wish would bloom right now, doesn’t. We can’t force it. 

Still, we can’t miss the beauty of what stands in front of us while we wait for other things.

I know that so many dear friends are in a season of waiting. Perhaps you’re waiting in secret, waiting for something you’ve not even spoken aloud.

We can wait together, you and I— knowing that the beauty of today is not a gift we want to squander as we wait for what’s around the next corner. 

Pictured: the Tulips at The Biltmore, followed by the beautiful, but still bloom-less rose garden.
I’ve always wanted to paint, but I guess this is I’ve always wanted to paint, but I guess this is almost as good. 🥰 

Finished this lovely piece for a very special birthday and I really love it!
Thank you for the free pattern, @dmc_embroidery !
It’s that time of year again! Here in Augusta, e It’s that time of year again! Here in Augusta, everything is shades of green— ⛳️🌿🥬🌳— including some of our favorite foods! Our Masters celebrations look different from year to year, but we ALWAYS have at least one meal made of Pimento Cheese, Arnold Palmers, & Green Jacket Salad. If only we could get someone to smuggle us out a 🍑 Peach Ice Cream Sandwich, we’d be good!!

I’ve linked my favorite recipe for Green Jacket Salad today so you can grab it and bring a little Masters into your meals this week!
Happy Easter from the grateful, hopeful, Stuckeys. Happy Easter from the grateful, hopeful, Stuckeys. He alone is our Peace.

Surely he has borne our griefs
  and carried our sorrows;
 yet we esteemed him stricken,
 smitten by God, and afflicted. 
 
  But he was pierced for our transgressions;
 he was crushed for our iniquities;
 upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
 and with his wounds we are healed. 
 
  All we like sheep have gone astray;
 we have turned—every one—to his own way;
 and the LORD has laid on him
  the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:4-6
It’s officially Guac-A-Clock. 🥑Ringing in the It’s officially Guac-A-Clock. 🥑Ringing in the fact that it’s almost Master’s Week in Augusta with pollen and Pellegrino aplenty.
When all is well, we often forget to pay attention When all is well, we often forget to pay attention.

We forget to look for daily provisions and mercies as we do when they are life and water to us.

It is not sunny optimism, but hope-filled obstinacy that pushes us to count our gifts instead of our trials.

To know that when the season is hard, and awkward, and everything seems backwards— we are not forgotten.

You may well know, it’s not an easy task. It’s hard work. Like those last few reps of lifting weights— when your muscles burn and you need to quit. What does the coach always say? “Don’t stop. These are the ones that count.”

Perhaps we think of gratefulness like this— It’s still important when we’re sitting with so much grace around us that we hardly remember our thanks.

But when it’s hard?
When it hurts?
When we cannot possibly see the light at the end of this particular tunnel— ✨there✨ is where we make the list of all we know to be true.

That is the place where it counts.
Where we squint if we must, to see what God is doing for us and in us— and definitely in spite of us.

I don’t know about you, but I’ll just be over here filling pages with provision I never want to forget. #solideogloria
Just a little flower garden while we wait for spri Just a little flower garden while we wait for spring to come in earnest. 🪡 🌸🪴🌼🌿 

This is a flour sack towel and although I don’t recommend it for stitching, (too loosely woven,) I do love the way it turned out! 💗
“Sometimes, placemakers make new. Build fresh. S “Sometimes, placemakers make new. Build fresh. Start from scratch. But most of the time, they repair. They restore. They protect. Sometimes, placemaking is nothing more than the refusal to unmake.”

@christiepurifoy // Placemaker

#internationalwomensday #mothersofdaughters #getaftergrateful #weareplacemakers
Do you remember your last normal adventure? Mine Do you remember your last normal adventure? 

Mine was one year ago today and I love the pictures from it so much I made them into a chatbook.

My Mom & I visited the @biltmoreestate to celebrate her being healed from cancer— We enjoyed the most beautiful afternoon tea, saw the Downton Abbey exhibit and were even surprised with a bit of unexpected snow.
It really was ✨magical✨ and proof that short getaways really can be the best!

Planning travel might be my favorite part— Where will you go next? 🧳 🛫⛰🏰
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Categories

Featured Posts

On Waiting & Moving

(And a Recipe for Italian Tortellini Soup) Later this month, our family will celebrate the 10th … [ Read More ]

Five Good Things

Hi. How are you, really? If you're anything like me-- you have moments of complete gratefulness for … [ Read More ]

Winter Favorites

(and why it matters to pay attention to the little things.) "For you are the sunshine-maker in … [ Read More ]

Loving Lately in November

"...all creation's revealing his majesty. We're invited to join with all nature in manifold witness … [ Read More ]

Feasting & Foraging (free for the weekend!) 🍊🌿

I wrote a book, called Feasting & Foraging, and I would like to tell you why. About a year … [ Read More ]

Miss Something?

Please be kind and give proper credit if you share! © Cynthia M. Stuckey. For personal use only, not to be copied, distributed, altered or sold.

Privacy Policy

Full privacy policy may be found HERE.

Want each post to magically appear in your email box?

Your personal information is safe and will never be shared.

Cynthia@happygostuckey.com
xo Cynthia
  • Start Here
  • Blog
  • Books
  • Table
  • Writing
  • Happy Designs
  • Connect

© 2021 · Pretty Creative WordPress Theme by, Pretty Darn Cute Design