Maria's Labor of Love: Wonder Woman Chocolate Cake

I recently had the opportunity to bake for a very good friend of mine, Kat. She was a former classmate who happened to live near one of the apartments I used to stay at. We started seeing each other even after class to compare notes and sometimes to answer assignments together. Our friendship had evolved from going to and from school together into having a day at a spa and some other fun activities. Most of it involved eating in our school cafeteria while sharing stories endlessly. What I loved most about her are her cool and unique ideas, wholesome jokes, and sometimes extending her motherly instinct towards me. She might never realize how she had encouraged me into gaining enough confidence and be able to speak in front of a class for the whole 45 minutes, so I am going to share it.

I remember exactly how I prepared for my report in one of our classes. The subject was Business Ethics and our professor was also a practicing priest who required us to speak before our class for 45 minutes. As if that was not enough for me to be nervous, I was the first to report since I got the number 1 from the draw lot. :-SS

I had a lot of concerns. I was having problems with my throat. I couldn't speak that long, especially not in front of a whole class of professional and intelligent people. I had no idea about the subject matter and one week preparation was not enough! I can't be number 1, I needed a benchmark! There were endless concerns happening in between my ears, but I prepared anyway.

Before the class began, I had a sick feeling in my stomach. I'm pretty sure I was also shaking at the time. While our professor was checking our attendance, just a few minutes away before I began to speak, I whispered how I felt to Kat. I no longer remember the exact words she whispered back, but what I remember is that it was full of encouraging words. She mentioned one by one all the things that I have accomplished already, and the potential that I had and what I could become. But the best motivating words that she said was that... "If I could only stop thinking about the impression that I might impart and focus more on what I will have to share, she believed that I can deliberately do it".

I didn't know what happened but I felt like I was Popeye who just got a dose of spinach. To cut the story short, I enjoyed speaking in front of the class that the appointed student-to-monitor-time had to signal me to wrap it up since I had consumed more time than expected!

Thanks to Kat's motivating powers I was able to gain enough confidence and was able to do something I haven't done before. And for that I am forever thankful to Kat...

I just recently learned that she was promoted to being a manager. I was actually teasing her about it when we met again and she admitted that she already is a manager. I wasn't really surprised since I knew she had great potential. With how diligently she works and how effective, efficient, and dedicated she is, it really was no surprise. It was a well deserved promotion and I am very proud of her.

Anyway, she asked me to bake her a chocolate cake. when I asked her what kind of design she would like, she just said the simplest one since it was just meant for personal consumption. I, however, decided that I would surprise her with a Wonder Woman cake since it totally fits her.

Although I know how successful she is professionally, her success in keeping her family is much more commendable. I have high respect for any woman who still has the energy to do household chores despite the fact that they have an 8 to 5 job. Even more so if they can still manage to stay glamorous just like her!