WWDD?

Yesterday we went to a family BBQ. Jack left my sight after about 2 minutes; he found my cousin's three girls, all older than him, and was happy as he could be. I didn't see him for nearly three hours. It was glorious - and now, I feel a bit better about daycare (though will talk more in a few weeks).

I had a lenghty talk with the mother of the three brilliant girls who entertained my child. Laurie mentioned that Ed & I seem so laid back, she wondered if we ever got stressed.

HA. The great secret about Ed, and probably me, is that we appear calm and laid back most of the time. But, left to our own space with one another(and, sadly, Jack) we can be two of the most up-tight, stressed-out, tense people we know. Snappy? Definitely. Heavy sighs? More than a few. Yelling over little things like not completely cleaning the ceiling fan to let off steam for not being able to figure out how we're both going to get ready in class on time? Happens on a regular basis.

Perhaps that is why one of our new favorite shows is Ace of Cakes. The premise is that there's a guy, Duff, who opened his own cake store, and he, plus a handful of artsy, yet anal, chillin friends/employees produce specialty cakes by a deadline. Charm City Cakes is established in Baltimore, and don't think I haven't thought about visiting. Just for the cakes and the people who make them.

On Thursday nights, we watch 30 minutes of carefully edited cake making. And, let me tell you, the cakes are AMAZING. Entire baseball parks, animals, planes, WHATEVER. We love the show in part because Duff reminds us of a friend, Jake, and the office manager, Mary Alice, reminds us of another dear friend, Elizabeth. Both are in Boston. Maybe that's why we are hooked.

But, then, I realized last week that another reason we like this show because everyone on it seems to handle the stress of deadline so well. Duff, the owner, this bald, bearded thirty-something with a goofy laugh, ROLLS with stress. Last week's episode showcased the creation of some yak-sheep animal for a scottish wedding. At one point Duff had his office manager pick him up a Kilt to wear and then hired someone to come play the bagpipes. All this while they were hours away from a deadline and right before all the "hair" fell off and had to be reapplied before the cake left for the wedding.

Any tension felt at Charm City Cakes is kind silence. Which, is exactly the opposite type of silence you would feel around me and Ed. Our stress silence is more like the stress you might feel if you walked in front of store owners on some beach front walk in Florida, nailing up plywood to prepare for the next day's category 4 hurricane.

So, now, our renewed goal is to be better about "rolling" with the stress which inevitably comes with life. And, our life, in particular lately with all the moving and new jobs. We are using Duff and his employees as our roll model. We'll let you know how it goes. . .