Yay! Thankful For More Cake!

It's been a busy week, with a birthday in our house - older daughter is now sixteen. Yikes, where did the years go? So I've baked two chocolate cakes so far, both of them without refined sugar and with wholemeal flour. The first cake, which was for a huge gathering of five - our family and my niece - turned out perfect, even though I forgot the recipe calls for self-raising flour. The cake I baked today, which is for the party, and for which I remembered the self-raising flour, is a little on the flat side. Never mind, I'll just tell them it's a brownie cake and all will be well. I am thankful that younger daughter is doing the icing. It's a Game of Thrones cake. Let's hope they don't kill each other to get a piece. (If you know nothing about Game of Thrones - it's a sort of medieval drama and a lot of people die in it. I have this on good authority, though I've never watched it.)
The cake icing isn't finished yet, so till then here's a photo of last year's cake, which you can probably tell is on the Hunger Games theme.

There's lots of killing in the Hunger Games too of course, so you might be getting the idea my daughter is a vicious beast. She's not. She might kill me (metaphorically of course) for writing this, but she's sweet  and lovely. She's considerate and caring. And how can I let a birthday go by without expressing my thankfulness for having her in my life? She's intelligent, thoughtful, determined, works hard at school. Even though they sometimes fight, she loves her little (but taller than her) sister. When she was six she badgered me into having a charity bake sale and we raised £100 which we split between the school charity and Bliss, a charity that supports premature babies. (She chose Bliss because her sister was born very premature.) She's already written three novels and she designed the cover for mine. She also created the picture for the hostage series on this blog and she's designed a book cover for another writer.
But I loved her long before I knew she could do any of those things. I loved her the moment I first saw her, and even before. I loved her through years of recurrent illnesses, including the year she missed school almost as often as she was there. She's coped with failure too - when those recurrent illnesses meant she had to let go of dreams of being a champion swimmer. (She let go of those more easily than I did.)
My road to motherhood wasn't easy, so I was what's known as a 'elderly prima gravida' or a 'geriatric mother.' That makes me sound like I was a hundred and five, but it's used for any mother over thirty-five. I am so thankful I didn't let the scare stories about being an older mother put me off. I am so thankful for both my daughters.
I loved when my girls were little and sometimes do feel nostalgic for those days. But there's much to be thankful for with teenagers too -

• that on the day of the party, I don't have to tidy up because they are old enough to do it themselves. 
• that they are not embarrassed to be seen in public with me or with their dad!
• that they are still willing and happy to visit their grandparents, and that they understand my mother needs more visits now my dad is gone. 
• that they can help out when we visit. 
• they understood my sadness when my dad died and were considerate (most of the time.) 
• that sometimes when I can't be bothered to cook, they do it.
•  that I can have intelligent conversations with my kids about all sorts of things including feminism, books and the meaning of life!

That last one leads me neatly into this next bit of thankfulness (which otherwise would have nothing to do with the rest of this post!) This video is the sort of thing we talk about together. It came to my Facebook feed via Upworthy. It is of Oscar winner, Lupita Nyong'o. She is speaking prior to winning her Oscar, at the Black Beauty Essence Magazine Women in Hollywood Awards. She talks about a letter she received from a girl who was inspired by her success, and of the women who in turn inspired her. She talks about the colour of her skin, and how she used to believe it was too black. She talks a little about her role in Twelve Years a Slave, but it is worth watching this video for that alone. If you haven't already seen it, don't skip on by. Take a few minutes to listen. You won't regret it. I am so thankful Lupita won an Oscar, and that she is a successful actress. Hollywood needs people like her.
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