Chocolate Waffles and Conquering Denise

 One Sunday evening, I was making everyone a fun dessert of chocolate cake waffle sundaes. I can never remember how much batter to pour onto the waffle iron, but of course, I followed the "instructions" and confidently poured 2 cups of chocolate cake batter onto the hot iron and closed the lid. Not even two seconds later, chocolate batter began to ooze out of three sides of the maker and down onto the controls and the countertops. Alarmed, I began commanding it to "Stop it! No! Don't do that! Whoa! No No No!!!" in my most authoritative voice, while also scooping up the oozing batter with a paper towel and a paper plate, and my hands. 

Apparently, my mom thought it was pretty funny, as she "helped" by putting her hysterical face in her hands, but my sidekick Serena jumped in to rescue me as the chocolate river continued to flow. She became my waffle sous chef and advisor, who just kept helping direct the lava and the removal of the cooked waffles.  The addition of Steve's "Lucyyyy..you've got some 'splainin' to doooo" just added to my mom's inability to get ahold of herself. The antics continued, as I momentarily lost my spatula and tongs and could not remove the waffles from the iron when the beeper went off. This created a near collision, as I turned to Steve, reaching into the sink where he had just put them. I guess my yelling, "Where? Where? Why?" and "What the heck?" did little for others to realize I needed assistance with my tool location. Flailing and spinning about helplessly while spewing nonsense was more entertaining, I suppose. 

You would think a little thing like making dessert for my family would be simple. I have actually made this before! But one little slip up caused a chain of ridiculousness that actually ended up being the most fun we had all day.  In case you're wondering, you place those wonderful chocolate waffles on a plate, put a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Drizzle (more like dump) on some hot fudge sauce, add some whipped cream and some sprinkles. It's so good! Side note, two cups of batter is about one cup too many, but don't take my word for it. Clearly, I don't know what I'm doing. 

As I reflected on this moment later, I thought about how often I do these kinds of silly things and have to humor and finagle my way through them. I wonder if God looks at me like the chocolate ooze and says, "No No NO, Don't do that! Stop it! Whoa!" even as He fixes my problem mercifully. Much like my servant-hearted daughter, Serena, who jumped in without judgment to help save the day, or should I say, the countertop, and maybe my pride? She does have restaurant management experience, and boy, did she show her skills. Me as a chef? Not so much that day. 

I make a lot of mistakes. But I try a lot of things that are probably out of my wheelhouse and sometimes even my energy to do. Before I had restrictions to lift and move furniture, I used to move all kinds of heavy, bulky furniture with no help. When Steve would get home, he would look around and say suspiciously, "What did you DO and how...?" Well, I figured out how to improvise, that's what I did, and I still do! If I want something done, and there's no one around to help me, I figure it out. God must have a good laugh at me now and then, when He sees me cooking up yet another idea or figuring out how to do what seems difficult or impossible at first. I am very determined when I get something in my mind to do.

I don't like relying on other people. I want to fix everything myself! It also annoys me that I have irrational fears that stop me from doing things, like raking unknown piles of leaves, because I just "know" there are snakes in them. I just know it! Ironically, snakes show up right in the middle of a mowed lawn where everyone is parked in lawn chairs visiting too, so some situations just can't be eliminated. I also want to conquer my fear of the chainsaw, but that could be trouble too. I do enjoy (and generally need) all of my attached limbs very much. 

Some mishaps can't be avoided either, and to avoid things like messy waffle explosions would have meant missing out on a kitchen full of laughter.  I haven't laughed about that snake yet, and I probably never will, but life is about turning mishaps and mistakes into memories sometimes. In fact, getting back to that furniture moving reference, I have trapped myself in stairways a few times trying to move large objects that became wedged somehow, and I just had to resolve that I was going to have to live in the basement forever, trapped by an ugly old bookcase. I named her Denise. She isn't the first to trap me and she won't be the last. When I finally wedged her loose and slid her where I wanted her to go, it was cause for celebration. (Cue the Rocky Balboa music) Every moment we persevere, we prove to ourselves that we can keep going even through all the "Denises" in our way. 

Life just isn't that funny on its own. It can be pretty messy and pretty hard and sad sometimes. We all know this feeling. We have to look for our own joy and create our own entertainment, because the world isn't going to give it to us for free. The people who love and support us are going to laugh us through the waffle messes, help us clean them up, or just tease us mercilessly.  Hopefully they'll rid us of the snakes, help us move the heavy stuff, and move us out of the way of things that threaten to crush our spirits.

Our family has had its share of hardships and illness, but one thing we all know how to do well is laugh and joke around, and that has been the secret to our success and our survival. Make the best of it, remember the good times, and laugh when you can. Life isn't funny, but we can always find a reason to smile.