Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes and Other Things We Take for Granted

I recently had the pleasure of trying the Pumpkin Pie cupcake from Treat Cupcake Bar in Needham, Massachusetts.  It's a simple cupcake--pumpkin spice cake with cinnamon cream cheese frosting.  Perhaps it's the simplicity, perhaps it's the combination of flavors, but this is a very high quality cupcake. The pumpkin cake is really moist and has a wonderful flavor. It almost seems as if you're having a really good slice of pumpkin bread instead of indulging in a cupcake.  The cake is topped with just enough frosting; some bakeries use too much frosting which frankly can take away from the cupcake experience. Not so with Treat, it's the right amount to balance the high quality cake.  The cinnamon flavor mixes perfectly with the cream cheese frosting;  you might not automatically think about putting cinnamon with a cream cheese frosting, but it really works. The sweetness of the cinnamon breaks up the richness of the frosting quite nicely, and adds a particular emphasis of flavor. Rich but not too rich, I love this frosting, and it matched perfectly with the pumpkin cake.  

I realized today that somehow, Treat has not yet made an appearance on my blog, despite the fact that I have eaten more cupcakes than I can count from Treat.  I decided that perhaps I was taking Treat for granted; just because Treat is a given for me, doesn't mean that it shouldn't be highlighted and given its day on my blog.  

My visit to Treat got me thinking about all of the other things we take for granted.  And primarily, the people that we take for granted.  More than any other person in the world, I think it's really easy to take your mom for granted.  

Your mom is your constant.  She may not see the world the way you do, but she was there when you were just discovering what the world was.  She is there for every triumph and defeat; she imprints them on her heart and can recall each one, years after you've forgotten them all.  You can behave at your worst with your mom because, after all, she's your MOM.  She's always going to love you. She's always going to be there for you, because that's just what she does and who she is.  Whether you are at your best or your worst, she is there. Whether you are five or twenty five or fifty-five, you mom is still your mom. She knew you before anyone else did.

Yes, we have Mother's Day, where we purchase fancy cards and perhaps flowers or small gifts. We have birthdays and holidays where perhaps we celebrate Mom, and we have those moments in life where we find a reason to say thank you. But for every moment we do celebrate, there are countless other moments that go unnoticed, un-recoginzed, un-celebrated. Because being a mom, after all, is the most full-time, all-consuming job there is.

So today, I would like to thank my Mom for a few things.  It's just the tip of the iceberg.  But it's a start.

Thanks for painting flowers on my bedroom furniture. 

Thanks for typing all of my college applications.

Thanks for all the birthday cakes, the ones with the coconut that I always said I liked the best, and the other fancy ones, that took you much more time to make.  Thanks for the fancy cupcakes you always sent to school.  They truly were the best.

Thanks for telling me, freshman year in high school, that everything would turn out okay (it did).

Thanks for being interested in the classical music I was playing on the piano, even though you had never been interested in classical music before.

Thanks for all the great Christmas Eves. 

Thanks for competing on a game show with me.

Thanks for always being excited to hear every detail about your grandchildren's lives.

Thanks for nagging me to write an honors thesis in college, because even though I chose not to, I appreciate why you did it and that you cared enough to do it.

Thanks for learning to drive. 

Thanks for driving me everywhere, years later, when I was too busy to get my license.  

Thanks for making me feel better when my second grade teacher made me feel worse.

Thanks for always watching my performances. Well into my forties.  

Thanks for the pottery you made me in ceramics class while you were a teacher's aide.  I still have it all.  

Thanks for letting me be me, always.

Have a sweet week, everyone!