Happy Birthday ... With Love Baked In

A peanut butter sandwich cookie

Is not always

Just

A peanut butter sandwich cookie

A two layer carrot cake covered in cream cheese icing 

Is not always

Just

A two layer carrot cake covered in cream cheese icing

A piece of construction paper that is folded in half, covered in stickers, and scrawled across with letters

Is not always

Just

A piece of construction paper that is folded in half, covered in stickers, and scrawled across with letters

A blue Cape Cod with four bedrooms, two baths, a crumbling driveway, brand new marble countertops, dutifully made beds and emptied trash cans, and the fine aroma of juicy hamburgers and frying Brussels sprouts floating through the air

Is not always just

Levittown

And will not always be home

But

He knows that better than we do

It’s why he could look at me and solemnly dismiss my suggestion that we buy a cake

With a simple statement

Delivered as if he was a philosopher

Talking with an annoying but lovingly tutored graduate student

“Dad, we can’t buy a cake, we have to bake the love in.”