Perspective

Last night I had the rare opportunity of attending Enrichment night at church. Aaron was able to make it home to watch the kids just in the nick of time, and I escaped to have dinner with women from the neighborhood.

The seating arrangements were divided up by birthdays, so we all sat at a table filled with women born around the same time of year, (but not necessarily under the same Zodiac sign).

After dinner, they surprised us with cake decorating. Each table of women chose a cake and some decorations, with which we were to come up with a theme and decorate our cake accordingly. For those of you who don't know, the Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has just celebrated its 167th anniversary. We decided to work this into the theme of our cake--that and candy. We had lots of candy to decorate with, and couldn't resist the sweet theme. So the theme was "Sweet for 167 years". We even wrote this on the cake with pink icing.

As we decorated ( I use the term decorated loosely here) the cake with candy by poking candy corns into the hardened chocolate frosting, and sprinkling mini M&Ms around the edges, it became apparent that some of the women weren't satisfied with how it was turning out. I was perplexed; after all, who wouldn't love a chocolate cake decorated with candy? It's chocolate, it's candy--what's not to love? I was satisfied with our theme and our cake, and couldn't wait to grab a knife and cut into it. But others insisted that it wasn't good enough and even wanted to try again with a different cake. For the life of me, I couldn't understand why the other women thought the cake was so pathetic. I was thinking, yeah, so. Let's eat.

I guess my point is, am I satisfied and easy-going, or am I just lazy? It's a matter of perspective, I guess. Sure, there have been times in my life when I've been called a perfectionist. However, the older I get, the less frequently I hear that term used in reference to me. I find it's easier, and more satisfying to accept things as they are, rather than try for any level above what I can offer without extreme effort. That's not to say that I haven't been successful in my life, or that I accept unacceptable conditions; I certainly push for change where and when change is needed. But maybe being a little lazy has led me to be satisfied with life.

Now, can we cut the cake, already?