Mandy-Cake Story Beautiful; Mine Not So Much

Trending social media is the story of a young lady who purchased a cake decorated by an autistic store employee.  The story was beautiful and tugged on my heartstrings.  I automatically wanted to give them both a hug. THEN, I remembered the horrible cake decoration I once received.

First, Lisa Sarber Aldrich shared the story of going to a Meijer store and having a cake decorated by a person she thought worked in the bakery. Before looking at the cake, she thanked the employee with a smile. She looked at the cake, thought it was funny, and proceeded to check out.

Sweet story, right?  Well, mine isn't so sweet.

My mom has ALWAYS been an amazing person! She's overcome A LOT of adversity, which doesn't even need to be explained right now.  She's also SUPER FUNNY!!! I think it keeps her youthful.  People often say she seems more like our sister than our mother. I messed around and called her Mom in front of Smokey Robinson. He was like, "Mom? You look more like sisters!"  She was just smiling.  (I smiled too, but I was really mad on the inside.  What did he mean?  Did we really look the same age? I got over it and chalked it up to "old man flirting.")

Anyway, we celebrated her 28th birthday for 10 years.  On the 11th year, she decided to go ahead and be 39.  So, we progressed from 39 to 50.  Once she hit 50, she decided to hold fast again. So, for her 51st birthday, we decided to get her a cake saying "Happy 50th Birthday Again."  I went to a local store which is known for its cakes and asked a bakery employee if he could write on a cake for me.  He responded, "Yeah, I can do it." THAT should have been my hint that he had no idea what he was doing.  Most bakery employees who are used to writing on cakes respond like, "Sure! What do you want it to say?" or "Absolutely! What colors?"  Not him. "Yeah, I can do it. Whatchu want on it?"

"Happy 50th Birthday Again."

He starts writing and looks up. "You said, 'Happy 50th Birthday' and then you want Again under that, right?"

"Sure! But make 'again' stand out.  You can make it another color if you'd like."

"Aight. I got you!"

He finishes writing and hands me the cake over the counter.  I look at the cake, smile and thank him. He says, "That's aight, ain't it?"

"Yeah, it's cool. Thanks!"

I then went down another aisle in the store and left the cart right there! I couldn't take that cake home! Aside from the horrendous writing, the darn thing said "Happy 50 Birthday," no "th."

Part of me feels bad that I just wasn't honest.  I should have told him that I didn't like his work and just left, but at the same time, I felt like he should have been honest and said, "No, I can't write on cakes.  You might wanna wait until someone who can returns." But nooooo.... "Yeah, I can do it."

That was almost 6 years ago, and I still remember it like it was yesterday. After reading Ms. Aldrich's story, I started to wonder if maybe the employee I encountered was autistic or had another issue that I just didn't recognize.  If this is the case, I apologize. And if someone who worked at the store recognizes this story contacts me, I'll go back and pay for the cake since I left it in the aisle instead of returning it to the cooler. Yes, I'll pay for it NOW, but back then I just couldn't. I had another cake to buy!