A Slice of Life

There she was, sitting alone in a cafe, again, wondering if she had just made the biggest mistake of her life. She had always dreamed of that perfect life, married to the perfect guy, with the perfect house with the white picket fence, and two little children running around the yard. Now she was worried that dream could never become a reality for her.

Being single and childless at the age of 35 wasn't unheard of nowadays, but she never pictured that she would end up an old maid. Ben had seemed to be the guy she was going to spend the rest of her life with. She thought she had finally found "the one."

After three years and no sign of commitment in sight, though, she decided to end it. Was she being too picky? Too needy? She had always considered herself a strong, independent woman, so why did she feel the need to have a guy in her life to make her feel complete?

Her waitress arrived at her table with her order of a latte and a single slice of chocolate cake. She had heard good things about this cake, but you could never be too sure. As she sat there contemplating her current life choice, she began to think about how life is like a slice of chocolate cake.

For most people, the ingredients are all the same. Most cakes contain eggs, sugar, and flour. These days people get a little more creative by using different types of flour, like almond or coconut, or they might use that cool trick of making a cake with cake mix and soda. No matter which way you decide to make it, though, you still end up with the end product: a cake.

People make so many tiny decisions throughout their days, but in the end they are always left with one life to live and one person they will spend the rest of their lives with: themselves. What if one wrong move could drastically alter your life? If you left one ingredient out of that cake recipe, it certainly would change the taste of your cake.

She wanted to make sure she was including the right ingredients in her own life to end up with that perfect slice of chocolate cake. What was it that made a place famous for its chocolate cake? She knew of one famous place that used sour cream in its cake that gave it a moist, slightly tangy quality to it that people just loved. What could she possibly add to her life to givee it that extra kick that she needed? She needed to find her own secret ingredient.

As she sat there taking another bite of the deliciously rich slice of cake, she saw a tall, gorgeous man walk in to the cafe. He had brown, slightly wavy hair that had grown just past his ears. He was wearing glasses and a scarf and carried a brown leather messenger bag. He looked like a man from a romantic comedy whose job was a novelist or a writer for an important magazine for intelligent people.

She caught his eye, and he smiled a small, wry smile that seemed to say, "I see you checking me out, and I don't mind at all." As soon as he was done placing his order, he walked over to her table.

"Hi, I'm Dan," he said. "Have we met before?"

"No, I don't think so," she said. "I'm Jenny. It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too," said Dan. "Oooh, that looks like a delicious slice of cake. Is it any good?"

"Yes, it is, actually," she replied. "You should definitely order yourself a piece."

"Maybe I will," he said. "I don't normally eat cake so early in the morning, but that slice looks pretty tempting. Of course, I don't normally walk up to a beautiful woman and strike up a conversation before I've had my morning coffee." He smiled again.

"Sometimes it's nice to try something new," Jenny told him.

"Indeed it is," Dan said. "I think it's time for me to start branching out. Maybe I'll even take up baking and learn to make a cake even better than that one."

"That sounds like a good idea," she said. "I've been meaning to start up baking myself."

"You know, there is an Introduction to Baking class over at the community center down the street. Maybe we could go together sometime," he said.

"That would be lovely," said Jenny. "I think it is time for me to try out some new things as well."

"Great," Dan replied. "Then it's a date." He pulled out his phone and Jenny gave him her number to plan a day and time.

"I'm looking forward to it," Jenny said. "I think it's high time I mix it up with some new ingredients in my life." She smiled at him as he walked out of the cafe.