A Cupcake Run As Metaphor

I went on a quest this weekend that turned into an adventure. It started, as many of my quest-turned-adventures do, with Dawny, my thoughtful, generous best friend. She’d heard that a new friend, Justine was selling cupcakes at some kind of street fair in Wynola, the next town over from where we live and asked me if I wanted to go to the event Saturday morning to surprise and support her.  I told her sure, I was down for a cupcake run.

On Saturday morning. we each did what we had to do (or not do, in my case), then Dawny came over. The first snag happened with scheduling. Dawny called Justine to find out what time the street fair started and it wasn’t until noon. That time frame wasn’t going to work for us. We decided to reschedule the run for Sunday morning because the fair opened a couple hours earlier at 10 am. This time I drove over to Dawny’s place around 11:20 am after my Sunday morning meeting in the park. We headed out to Wynola on our cupcake run. The drive took 30 minutes and we passed it because the town is so small and we didn’t know exactly what we were looking for. Turns out it was a Lilac Festival! The second snag happened because Justine ran out of cupcakes and left to bring back more. Dawny and I had time to kill before needing to head back for a community board meeting. Thus, the quest for cupcakes became a meandering adventure.

The Lilac Festival took place on Fort Cross Farm with booths of various interests along a path around the property. We started on the path and found a pony booth with a small corral for kids to ride and be led around inside. We continued on and saw a sign for “archery and t-hawks”. We wondered what “t-hawks” were, then it suddenly came to me, TOMAHAWKS!  An area for archery and tomahawk throwing! We ambled over to the area where there was a bonafide, true-life mountain man by the name of TJ Black, who told us about the history of trappers, hunters and traders in the area and how local Natives would trade furs for tomahawks. He gave us a demonstration on how to throw tomahawks then stepped back and insisted we try it ourselves.

It was a blast! I managed to embed one of the three tomahawks in the wooden targets. Dawny hit two targets on her second try. After the tomahawk area, we stumbled upon a hayride, in progress. The driver stopped the hayride and insisted Dawny & I joined in on the impromptu sing-a-long. So we did. He pulled out his guitar and a few people already on the ride had a tambourine, a cowbell, and a home-made bass, which consisted of a stick in an upside washtub with strings attached. Folks, I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried. We sang several rounds of “She’ll Be Comin’ ‘Round The Mountain”, then were invited to hop on the back of the hayride. So we did. We rode around the property then ended up back at the front of the festival, where it turns out we were expected to participate in a couple of hoe-down group dances. So we did! It was all a blast and a hoot and a half, but still no cupcakes. It was getting late, we were hungry and it was hot out. Dawny called Justine again but it didn’t sound like she was going to make it back before we had to leave. We went back to Dawny’s car to wait. Then decided to cross the highway to check out a taco bar, but it was too crowded and would have taken too long. We got back to Dawny’s car and just as we were about to leave, Justine pulled up with her cupcakes! We conducted our transaction in the grassy knoll parking lot between the vehicles. These cupcakes were divine and well worth the wait. I bought two lemon curd with lilac icing and one chocolate with chocolate icing.

So how is this a metaphor? Hmmm, let’s see. We started out with a plan for Saturday, which changed to Sunday. Upon arrival, the main reason for going wasn’t there. But we made the best of things and participated in what was available, having a lot of fun along the way. Trying and learning something new. Being willing to take some direction, which led to much hilarity and more fun. After a little tension, feeling uncomfortable, considering an alternative that didn’t to work, we ultimately had just enough patience to finally get what we were after. I don’t know about y’all but that really feels like my life right now. My plans have been altered, adjusted, stalled and redirected. I just need to stay willing through it all. Willing to make the best of what is available, to try and learn something new, to take some direction, to endure some tension, to try alternatives that may or may not work and ultimately to have just enough patience to get me where He leads.