Magnum Opus

Well, not really, but I did make the cake for my greatest work, my daughter. Unfortunately she is not going to be able to eat a bite of the underlying chocolate pound cake layers with chocolate truffle filling. Not even a nibble of the fondant covering or a single little flower. She has been diagnosed with gestational diabetes and combined with her asthma this has become a high risk pregnancy. She says not to worry, she's fine. I know she will be, but worry is the bread and butter of motherhood as she will find out come sometime in January. She says it will be February 2, Ground Hogs day, an Aquarius in the age of same. The time seems only a few deep breaths away.

Marc's parents are old hands at this, but as his Mom showed me the room she plans on making into a nursery for her first grandson, I heard the excitement in her voice. She now has 4 granddaughters, sweet and adorable children she dotes on, but this is a new day, the son of her son. I know exactly how she feels. She has planned a party for him, or as she stated, "to welcome Eva into the family". It is no secret that both she, and especially Marc's father are having a bit of a struggle coming to terms with choices Marc and Eva have made about not marrying, but they are practical people and will make the best of things.

Sunday morning I'm packing up my cake and heading for northern Virginia to meet the friends and family that will help nurture my grandson. Now looking at my choice of themes I am struck that I have picked it philosophically. The birds, free to fly but bound by love, the nest, fragile yet sturdy enough to weather the storm, and the tiny egg, their magnum opus, the center of their world.