Birthday Cupcake
People love to tell me their stories about crushcakes, when they had their first crush, what it meant to them, how they share the experience with others and so on. Although the stories are usually very interesting, one story I recently heard has really stuck with me. A couple weeks ago I was at the gym and a girl came up to me, “Hi, are you the owner of Crushcakes?”
“Yes I am.”
“Well”, she says, “I always see you here and never wanted to bother you but I just had to tell you something.” She spoke very quickly, as if I would run away into the weight room or something before she could get it all out. “Right when you opened Crushcakes about 2 years ago, I couldn’t wait to come in. But my husband had just joined the service and we had no money. I would stare into your windows and look at the cupcakes and they were all so beautiful. The day my husband shipped out to Afghanistan, we finally came in and shared one cupcake. It was all we could afford.” I was trying not to look emotional, but wow, right?? Wait, there’s more…
“Nine months later I gave birth to my daughter. She was born on February 2nd. My husband was only able to take leave for 30 days, so he has only spent that much time with her. 30 days. But now he is coming back soon. And we want to celebrate our daughters 1st birthday by coming into Crushcakes for her birthday cupcake!”
OMG…”That is quite a story. I am really touched that Crushcakes meant so much to you and your family. Did you say that your daughters birthday is February 2nd?”
“Yes.”
“That is Crushcakes birthday too! Come celebrate with us!”
And they did. Daddy made it all the way from Afghanistan and I got to meet the family and hear more of their stories. They had cupcakes, we made their daughter a balloon and daddy told me how he was preparing to ship out again. But hopes to be back really soon. In the meantime, he had a Crushcake for the flight out.
So when I decided to leave law school in pursuit of changing the world through cupcakes, this was kind of what I had in mind. Not that I am changing the world by any means, but I do seem to bringing some happiness to it on some level. Sharing some love. Spreading peace. Eating good food with good people. Feels like success to me.
peace.love.food.
SN