Stick Your Finger Into More Cakes in 2020! (and don't be afraid to ask;)

A few weeks ago on the way back from teaching my 6:30am yoga class, I stopped in at one of my favorite local Health Food stores.

I love how quiet it is in those early morning hours and feeling the beginning bustle of the lovely employees getting nourishing food ready for customers.

I was hoping to get a rotisserie chicken, so I asked one of the employees in the deli if they had any ready. He was a large stoic fellow, probably of Pacific Islander descent. He said they would be ready in about 10 minutes, and I decided it would be worth the wait, so I stuck around.

There was a cake sitting on the counter where we were discussing the chickens and I noticed that it was sweating profusely (as cakes often do in the Southeast). I asked him if they were throwing it out. His reply was “no, it’s for display, do you want a piece?” I was feeling particularly frisky this morning (as I often do) so I replied “no, but I do want to stick my finger in it!”

He without pause or reaction…completely deadpan, responded “okay." He pushed the cake towards me.

Now. I feel I need to explain a bit further before we continue. I haven’t eaten cake or sugar for that matter for a few decades. And honestly I never really was a big fan of it and given what I know now about what it does to the body, I just stay away from it.

I DO, however, love sticking my finger into cakes, pies, brownies…whatever. Feeling the gooey goodness and the different layers and the texture in a tactile way is very satisfying and just feels yummy (and it’s pretty annoying to the people whose desserts I might happen to stick my finger in…you can ask my sister;). I guess it’s my own way of experiencing the culinary creation.

Back to our story. If you remember, my stoic friend had just very matter of factly given my strange request of sticking my finger into this pristine (though very sweaty) cake the go ahead. I kinda couldn’t believe that he’d said yes, so my response was an incredulous “Realllllly??” “Sure.” Again…completely deadpan response to this very out of the ordinary request. So. I took a nice deep breath, poised my finger over the cake, and deliciously pressed my finger into the icing, first layer, second layer…third. Oh. So. Satisfying. Took my finger out, wiped it off, he grabbed a spatula, cut out the piece with the hole in it and dumped it in the trash, immediately turned around and picked up my (now ready) rotisserie chicken and handed it to me. I smiled and said, “Thank you, you made my day!” “No problem,” (still no smile or anything). He turned around and went on to his next task and I smiled and walked to the checkout with my chicken.

As I was sitting in my car in the parking lot, I took a few moments to savor all the FUN and sheer ABSURDITY of the whole experience. First of all, well…BEST MORNING EVER…and secondly, I fully recognized the importance of ASKING. I had the impulse to make a request that was completely off the wall. I thought he would just laugh and think I was joking. But he listened and said YES. In essence, I had a desire, asked and was open enough that Universe provided the window to receive the manifestation of that desire through my wonderful deadpan deli friend.

We all have these off-the-wall, sometimes absurd desires that we may think are impossible or that no one will understand or honor. Or perhaps not so off the wall. Maybe they just feel out of reach or like we can’t possibly create them or allow them in. Give yourself some credit. Don’t be afraid to ask (and…you’re actually always asking even if you don’t verbalize it…more on that in another post;). If it’s a “no” right now…it just means you have some more getting happy and lining up to do. My goal in the whole finger-in-cake interaction was to have fun and to play with my fellow human being. Approaching it that way, you can only win, regardless what the answer is!

What is a fun, silly, off the wall desire you have? How can you play today? What is something you are afraid to ask for? Remember that to Universe, there is no request too silly, too big or too small.