When I am anxious I bake, I know weird right? But I find that it grounds me and then I can share the fruits of my labor with others as my son and I cannot eat all of my anxiety driven goodies.

Last week I made a carrot cake with lemon cream cheese frosting, it was lovely.  First I had my neighbor over for afternoon teatime, our rendition of Alice in Wonderland, Mad Hatter in tow. It’s an excuse to relax and spend time together and eat cake and drink tea. The next day I brought a tray to work as my coworkers had a weekly meeting that needed a little sweetening.  Then the cake sat in the refrigerator, neither my son nor I ate more.  So I put it outside for the birds to enjoy.  This morning I watched as a huge black crow balanced on the edge of the pan and enjoyed the frosting until his beak was covered white and he flew away.  Crows get a bad rap being symbolic of misfortune, illness and even death.  But in ancient Egypt, however, the crow was a symbol of faithful love because of the bird’s monogamous nature. I prefer to view my black feather visitor as that symbol: Faithful Love.

When I initially baked the cake I did not imagine I would be sharing it with The Crow, but I am quite sure his visitation was as much to his nourishment as to mine.  The ripple effect of kindness is a level of love, an unseen healer in this world. Kindness is never wasted, it finds it way in mysterious ways, and as you release it- it flies back to you.