Sometimes, when I'm working on something very late at night, or very near a rapidly approaching deadline, things start going badly and I get really frustrated. I wish that I could laugh in these moments, or take a step back and realize that everything will be fine. But in those moments, I feel like a complete failure.
I took this first picture the night before my daughter's birthday party. I was trying to make cupcakes, but it was just too hot. The frosting kept melting, and they literally kept falling apart. I took this picture (I couldn't even get the camera to focus properly, that's how wonderfully my night was going!) because in that moment, I was certain that I would not be able to finish even one decent looking cupcake before the party the next day. I was a failure. A true Culinary School Dropout who didn't have it in her to finish anything. I kept thinking about how tired I was going to be the next morning, and wishing that I had gone to bed earlier so that I could have had the energy to wake up early and finish assembling the cupcakes. I took this picture as a challenge. Though I was feeling real despair, in the very back of my mind, I vaguely remembered that somehow, everything would be ok.
But the morning always brings a special gift: a fresh start. When my brain is a little more clear, I can a step back to look around, formulate a little plan and then dig in. Things always turn out okay, not the perfect picture that I had constructed, but good enough. Through each disaster, I always learn something significant and important. Maybe someday I will be able to appreciate the my trials when I am in chest deep. Maybe?
