"Let Them Eat Cake!"

I know it's doubtful whether Marie Antionette ever said that. I also know that I used a derivative of the “Have your cake and eat it, too!” phrase in my last entry, and my husband stopped to ask me “What does that even mean?” The truth is, I'm not sure. Like many phrases that I hear and use on a regular basis, I know what it means, I just don't . . . know . . . what it means.

It's kind of like I trust you implicitly. Well, once you express that trust, isn't it explicit now? But back to cake.

Is there anything inherently wonderful about just having cake? I mean, I've always thought the real joy was to be had in eating said cake, but that's just me. Also, I would think you'd have to be in the possession of cake in order to be eating it. So, while I understand that this phrase is supposed to represent the conundrum we face in wanting conflicting scenarios to play out, I don't quite get it. Neither does Alex. I think it's because we have had the experience of literally attempting to have our cake and eat it, too. As it turns out, it wasn't super great.

You know that wedding tradition that says you're supposed to keep part of your cake in the freezer so that you can eat it on your one year anniversary? That's where this story begins. The day that Alex and I were married, we left our reception with a bit of cake to freeze. We ate some and then formulated a plan. We decided that we would divide the cake into twelve little slices and eat a portion every month for the first year of our marriage. This was great for the first few months, but after that we began to notice that our once tasty cake was getting increasingly stale and well, just gross. We gave up on our monthly slices, took an out-of-town anniversary trip, and unceremoniously threw the remnants of the cake out when we moved. This was a bummer—especially since we had made the pieces progressively larger as we were to approach our anniversary.

This is yet another tradition that I just don't understand. Maybe some smart-mouthed pessimist out there wants to tell me that the frozen cake is a representation of marriage—the honeymoon ends and things get nasty. To you, Mr./Ms. Daryl/Debbie Downer, I say: Shut your cake-hole; I don't wanna hear it. Unlike the cake, my marriage isn't on ice. Also, I may have absolutely no idea why I would keep a perfectly good cake in the freezer, but I know exactly why we got married, and we are enjoying [almost] every moment of our life together.

What's the good of having cake and eating it? I guess as long as you have the cake, you can eat it. That's probably why the metaphor is what it is. I would like to reinvent this saying, though. “Eat your cake already. Don't put it in the freezer. Just eat your cake and enjoy it.” (I explicitly trust that you'll be happy if you follow this advice.)

P.S. If you do decide to participate in the time-honored tradition of freezing your wedding cake, wrap it in MANY layers of plastic wrap to guard against freezer burn. This is something we didn't do that might have saved our cake. Those of you looking for further symbolism here, go ahead, but I'm done here.