Good intentions gone awry (8/9/04)

This is about chocolate cake.

The past few times I talked to my mother she mentioned that she was hungry for chocolate cake. This is strange because she has spent years telling me that I eat too much chocolate cake and that she doesn’t really like chocolate cake.

For the record, the only time I bake cakes is when I go to visit my family or sometimes for a carry-in at work.

I had planned a trip to visit her and also to help my brother move last weekend. Since I was a dutiful daughter I baked a chocolate cake to take along. I tossed an empty box in the back of the car in case they had more possessions than boxes. I also brought along a bottle of bubbles for each of the kids to keep them busy during the move.

My brother’s children were watching cartoons and promptly mobbed me as soon as I got in the door. When I placed the cake-carrier on the table my mom told me, “I don’t know why you brought that. You know I can’t have chocolate.”

“But you said you were hungry for chocolate cake,” I sputtered.

She had a stress test scheduled for the following day and was not allowed to have any caffeine. In my mind chocolate doesn’t have enough caffeine to worry about but her doctor was very strict and banned even minuscule amounts of the stimulant. I’m not sure she passed her test and worry that the added stress may have caused more harm than anybody knows. I doubt if the aroma of chocolate had anything to do with it.

The kids informed me that their new house came with four kittens. They had already decided that Ricky got a boy and a girl cat and Katie got the remaining two girls. The kittens were far more important than any other feature of the house. The kittens are currently living in a groundhog hole and have managed to look cute enough to persuade the new tenants to feed them.

Back to the chocolate cake. I was only trying to please my mother and ended up adding to her stress by tempting her with something she wasn’t supposed to have. It seems like the story of my life should be entitled, “Good Intentions Gone Awry.”

We got the majority of the moving done and I was back at Mom’s when my sister-in-law called and wanted me to bring the kids out to the new house. By this time the children had managed to spill most of the bubble solution on the living room rug and Mom’s heart was bothering her.

The trip to the new home was an adventure in itself. Ricky sat in the back seat and told me to turn this way or that way. The problem is that he is too little to know his left from his right and was pointing in the direction I was to turn. Not having eyes in the back of my head I had no idea which way he was indicating.

Plus I was worried about Mom and kept asking her if she was all right. The older I get the more I worry about her. She has serious health problems and it scares me to death to know that one day she will not be there to chastise me for bringing her treats she craves but isn’t supposed to have.

We delivered the children to their new home without getting lost on the way. Mom got a quick tour and was ready return to her own home after staying only a few minutes. We found our way back without benefit of small children giving directions even though I was uncertain where I was most of the time.

I left half the cake at Mom’s house and took the rest home with me. Mom told me the first thing she did after her stress test was have a cup of tea and a piece of chocolate cake. She said it was good cake.

Maybe I wasn’t such an inconsiderate daughter after all.[[In-content Ad]]