Fun, Frolic and Fear 6/9/2024

By: Jennifer Richardson Holt

It has been quite the week in these parts.  The goings on have been significant and I’d have to say they probably also fall a bit on the unique side.  We’ve had things happen that had been long planned and then there were

other bits that popped up and nobody saw them coming.  Today I’ll share a bit with you about my loaded days and also about the very strange correlation I made between all these happenings.  Even I was a bit surprised at the process my mind took on this one so, hold on to your proverbial hats.

I suppose I will begin with the little bits at the beginning of the week because well, as Julie Andrews told us in The Sound of Music, the beginning is a very good place to start.  On Monday after I left work, I traveled to a dear friend of mine’s house to pick up something very important. It was something that I had never seen and honestly didn’t even have much idea of what to expect. I had commissioned her, being the extremely talented baker that she is, to make a birthday cake for my daughter’s family birthday gathering.  I knew she was very skilled in cakes both aesthetically and in flavor so I had no doubt that I would be pleased with what she produced. I had given her a theme, told her it needed to be a chocolate cake (because if you’ve met my daughter you know) and waited to be impressed. I could not have been more thrilled.

I wasn’t really prepared for the appearance of a child’s birthday cake to make me get misty eyed but, there we were. It had a little bit of everything. There was even action happening on the cake which I wasn’t even aware was really a thing.  A character was splashing into water, and of course there was a beach near said water, and the splash itself was edible!  It was so unbelievably perfect. At the time I am writing this my daughter still hasn’t seen it, but I am convinced she will love it as much as I do. Everyone I have shown the pictures of said cake was awed.  And since it’s cake with ganache and all the glory inside, I bet, despite having to mar the artwork, digging into it will be just as joyous an experience.

So, while as I write this it is still in the future, you know there will be a birthday party right before this blog publishes. It is actually a shared party for both my husband and my daughter as their special days are only 4 days apart. All of the family will be gathering to eat and frolic and enjoy cake.  It will be a festive occasion, but it is very difficult to believe that the little girl that was a tiny tot just yesterday will be turning 8 years old. Everyone says they grow up fast but how is it that it seems like massive chunks of time just vanish?  There is a part of me that feels like a sad excuse for a parent as I remember all these birthday parties of the past and their themes and cakes, yet all that time in between is a blur of of every emotion known to humanity.  There is so much to remember and hold on to packed into such a few short years.

A few days into this past week I had an unexpected occurrence that will seem the absolute opposite of the fun and frolic of a birthday.  My mom was at my house with my daughter. My little dog, which I have written about here ad nauseum, was outside and having a bit of a barking episode. This doesn’t necessarily mean much of anything as she has been known to have quite the barking conniption at something so significant as grass or air. So, the canine fuss outside wasn’t something to write home about but my mother just had a feeling that something was afoot. She looked out to see my little dog lunging and jumping back from something on the ground. My mother goes outside to find my dog is having a go at harassing a snake. It is important here that you understand how much my mother abhors snakes. I do not think the English language has adequate words to express her feelings, but she loathes, hates, despises and detests them.  She knew, however, to protect her granddog she was going to have to end this serpent because the dog was absolutely not going to leave it be. My mother, wonder of wonders, took a shovel, without a handle mind you so she was disconcertingly close, and killed the snake. She sent me a picture assuming she had just freed the world of a harmless yet foul reptile. The picture I received was not so innocent. She had just taken out a juvenile (which is the more dangerous) copperhead.  This was horrifying on so many levels. My child goes outside. My dog is outside every day and is clearly more than happy to confront a creature despite its ability to inflict upon her a death sentence.  We had seen snakes on our property before but nothing dangerous. This is a development that leaves me with a gnawing in the pit of my stomach. They’re out there, the bad ones, and my mother has the trauma as proof.

You may, or may not, be wondering what strange parallel I can draw between birthday celebrations and vipers in the yard.  I’ll admit that the inner machinations of my mind are quite the enigma, even to me. Oddly enough I did see a connecting thread betwixt the two.  If one aspires to a Biblical worldview, as I do, you might be aware that the enmity between people and serpent goes back to the very beginning. It was all the way back to Eden when the forbidden fruit was eaten that snakes become synonymous with the enemy.  And it was that shortcoming also that was what numbered our days.  Now I daresay that an 8-year-old wouldn’t from now to even a few decades from now consider the march of time as foreboding. But those of us who are older, we are very aware of the clock’s steady progress. 

In my head I guess the events of my week painted a picture of a cycle that has maintained since time began.  Perhaps it shouldn’t make me wax poetic but, I must admit it does. We face challenges.  Sometimes we get bitten. Sometimes we manage to avoid the strikes.  Despite the situation or circumstance, time continues to move steadily on as it has since Genesis. And while there isn’t anything we can do to change that fact, it’s our response that makes all the difference.  May my, and all of our reactions be less fear and more holding tight to joy.