Day 376: 5 Minute Freewrite: Wednesday - Prompt: tiny

Lest we forget

the courage of the birthday cake dolls, here is my reminder of the potential tragedy.

A tiny, trivial tragedy, to be sure,

but epic, in the eyes of a child.

Happily, I have spares.

You're right, that's no child,

but Claire never did outgrow her love of doll cakes.
Not even after the tiny tragedy of
Mastectomy Barbie!

A tiny bit too adult for doll cake?

Not Claire, not even at age 21!

The doll cake

was a much-coveted rite of passage in our daughters' childhood. My first one was a masterpiece: Mexican Barbie, with red roses and silver dots and green leaves on a white dress. I even sewed not one but TWO Halloween costumes based on that doll, hand-printing three yards of white cotton with roses, silver polka dots, and vining green leaves.

I've been searching in vain for a photo of the cake: truly, it was my only masterpiece.

---

My nieces always wanted a doll cake too, but I was too lazy and awful and mean to comply. And there was this immediate side effect reminding me how futile to spend so much time for so short-lived a life:

Cake decorating

is much harder than drawing or painting, and the results fell so far short of my efforts, I got lazier with each passing year. Especially after seeing what my neighbor Vicki can do. That woman is good at EVERYTHING. She made this was for our daughter's wedding, a gluten-free cake for the few of us unfortunates.

Our son has always opted for toys

on his birthday cakes--here, too heavy to perch on the cake, a tiny souvenir from Brasil, the Christo Redentor:

My parents, for their 60th Wedding Anniversary, got - Doll Cake!

Even my mother still likes dolls,

even on her 80th birthday, but as you can see, I got lazy and used real flowers.

More and more lately, I see wedding cakes decorated with real flowers rather than the delicate, edible, gorgeous masterpiece of a rose made of marzipan.

source

Not to mention, hardly any frosting,

a minimalist look that is in vogue.
So, I use that as my excuse for various Epic Fails, like our 30th Anniversary cake.

Why waste time

crafting flowers and sculpted swags of icing, so much time spent for such ephemeral enjoyment?
Well, why build sand castles?
Why do anything, when we all end up dead and six feet under (or in ashes scattered wherever)?

Because we can,

because the urge to create, to adorn, to beautify, is what sets us apart from the animal world.
Or so we have been told.
The spider web, the bird nest, the flower, all are artfully designed yet utilitarian, and necessary for the continuation of the species.

Tiny Creatures

can build masterpieces, instinctively, apparently with little effort or struggle.

Why do we struggle and agonize so much more than they

as we hammer out a 5-minute freewrite, a birthday cake, a floral bouquet?

Even my Christmas decorations

include dolls that look like doll cakes. Call me a tiny bit obsessed?

I give up

on finding a photo of that Mexican Barbie doll costume AND cake, but wouldn't ya know, I have photos of cakes my mom baked:

Cheers!