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DIANE! WOO HOO!!!
Here is her piece entitled "Life is Just a Cakewalk!"
Life is Just a Cakewalk!
by Diane Viere
On a crisp, fall evening in October, our eight-year-old son came beaming through the front door, proudly holding a cake. It was an ordinary cake…you know the kind, triple-layered, creamy whipped frosting with decorative roses encircling the edges. He had been to a church party and won this ordinary cake at the Cakewalk. We set it at the center of our kitchen table and, soon, he was off to play with his more exciting toys.
Why did this ordinary cake stir such emotions within me? Why was I so overwhelmed with joy and happiness that he won this ordinary cake?
It had been many years earlier while in fifth grade that I first heard of Cakewalks. Fifth grade--Mr. Johnson--the best teacher, ever! In Mr. Johnson’s class, there always smiles and encouraging words. At home, things never seemed safe. In Mr. Johnson’s class, it was a certainty; we would learn and grow. At home, life was never certain. This was a special week in Mr. Johnson’s class. We were preparing the school gym for the Annual Roosevelt Elementary School Carnival to be held on Friday night. All of the proceeds would be used for our new gym equipment.
Daily, we would do our required class assignments and then rush to our carnival plans. We were excited and proud as we planned, decorated and made sure everything was in just the right place.
I was on the Cakewalk Committee. Each day we would make tickets, decorate the rope to encircle the cakewalk area, and cut out footprints from colorful construction paper to be placed on the floor for people to walk on while the music played. We were proud of the tablecloth we made from an artist roll of white paper, which would feature our original artwork and hang over the long lunchroom table. This is where we would display the prizes--the beautiful, donated cakes. By Thursday, we could hardly wait to see the cakes that would be delivered the next day. Friday would soon be here!
It was hard to sleep that Thursday night. Finally, as I faded dreamily away, I could hear the music on the phonograph spinning, as our carnival guests would walk the cakewalk. When the music stopped, the lucky winner on the special footprint would choose a cake. An ordinary cake. Maybe, just maybe, I would win one of those beautiful cakes. As I slept, I dreamed of how it would taste.
Stepping into the gym that Friday afternoon, I could not believe how beautiful the cakes were on that long table. I hardly noticed the tablecloth our committee had decorated with such care. They gym never looked so festive…and the Carnival was ready to begin.
My plan was to race home, do my homework and chores and then I would hurry back to our Cakewalk and buy a chance. My mom saved a dollar from her "ironing money" so that I could go to the carnival. I was determined to spend the entire dollar if I had to, just for a chance to bring home a beautiful cake.
Alcohol changed my chance that Friday afternoon. It didn’t matter to my Dad that we had proudly worked so hard all week long on that special school event. Some small thing had gone wrong in his day, and I wouldn’t be going to the carnival after all.
An ordinary day.
That Friday afternoon, I learned there are many footprints in our life. Some will make us stumble. Unlike a carnival cakewalk, the cakewalk of life is not always magical. There are storms. There are trials. There is hurt and there is pain. But there are also the prize footprints--the footprints of hope, of determination, of perseverance, of forgiveness and of love.
Just as the decorated rope circled the cakewalk that carnival night, a circle of life happened on that chilly evening in late October. Our son brought home an ordinary cake from a church carnival. To me, it was a cherished cake, a blessed reminder of the many prized footprints in the cakewalk of my life.
DIANE! WOO HOO!!!
Here is her piece entitled "Life is Just a Cakewalk!"
Life is Just a Cakewalk!
by Diane Viere
On a crisp, fall evening in October, our eight-year-old son came beaming through the front door, proudly holding a cake. It was an ordinary cake…you know the kind, triple-layered, creamy whipped frosting with decorative roses encircling the edges. He had been to a church party and won this ordinary cake at the Cakewalk. We set it at the center of our kitchen table and, soon, he was off to play with his more exciting toys.
Why did this ordinary cake stir such emotions within me? Why was I so overwhelmed with joy and happiness that he won this ordinary cake?
It had been many years earlier while in fifth grade that I first heard of Cakewalks. Fifth grade--Mr. Johnson--the best teacher, ever! In Mr. Johnson’s class, there always smiles and encouraging words. At home, things never seemed safe. In Mr. Johnson’s class, it was a certainty; we would learn and grow. At home, life was never certain. This was a special week in Mr. Johnson’s class. We were preparing the school gym for the Annual Roosevelt Elementary School Carnival to be held on Friday night. All of the proceeds would be used for our new gym equipment.
Daily, we would do our required class assignments and then rush to our carnival plans. We were excited and proud as we planned, decorated and made sure everything was in just the right place.
I was on the Cakewalk Committee. Each day we would make tickets, decorate the rope to encircle the cakewalk area, and cut out footprints from colorful construction paper to be placed on the floor for people to walk on while the music played. We were proud of the tablecloth we made from an artist roll of white paper, which would feature our original artwork and hang over the long lunchroom table. This is where we would display the prizes--the beautiful, donated cakes. By Thursday, we could hardly wait to see the cakes that would be delivered the next day. Friday would soon be here!
It was hard to sleep that Thursday night. Finally, as I faded dreamily away, I could hear the music on the phonograph spinning, as our carnival guests would walk the cakewalk. When the music stopped, the lucky winner on the special footprint would choose a cake. An ordinary cake. Maybe, just maybe, I would win one of those beautiful cakes. As I slept, I dreamed of how it would taste.
Stepping into the gym that Friday afternoon, I could not believe how beautiful the cakes were on that long table. I hardly noticed the tablecloth our committee had decorated with such care. They gym never looked so festive…and the Carnival was ready to begin.
My plan was to race home, do my homework and chores and then I would hurry back to our Cakewalk and buy a chance. My mom saved a dollar from her "ironing money" so that I could go to the carnival. I was determined to spend the entire dollar if I had to, just for a chance to bring home a beautiful cake.
Alcohol changed my chance that Friday afternoon. It didn’t matter to my Dad that we had proudly worked so hard all week long on that special school event. Some small thing had gone wrong in his day, and I wouldn’t be going to the carnival after all.
An ordinary day.
That Friday afternoon, I learned there are many footprints in our life. Some will make us stumble. Unlike a carnival cakewalk, the cakewalk of life is not always magical. There are storms. There are trials. There is hurt and there is pain. But there are also the prize footprints--the footprints of hope, of determination, of perseverance, of forgiveness and of love.
Just as the decorated rope circled the cakewalk that carnival night, a circle of life happened on that chilly evening in late October. Our son brought home an ordinary cake from a church carnival. To me, it was a cherished cake, a blessed reminder of the many prized footprints in the cakewalk of my life.
posted by Dave | 7:11 PM
3 Comments:
wow.
I loved your story, it took me back to my first cake walk held at a little country Community Center, life was much simpler then, not always better, but simpler.
Grat job Diane! (Great name too, mine... LOL)
P.S. I never realized a cake walk, was really a cake walk.
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