>Ordering the cake:

“Hello, Local Bakery, how may I help you?”

“I’d like to order a graduation cake — a half sheet.”

“A half sheet serves about 30. Does that sound right?”

“Yes.” We’d invited about 50, but we figured maybe half would show.

“And what kind would you like?”

“Marble, please.” Family tradition: we almost always get marble cake for special occasions.

“Graduation cakes usually say ‘Congratulations, 2010, the graduate’s name, and the school.’ What is the graduate’s name, please?”

Now it gets challenging.

“We’re actually celebrating three graduations together.” I spell the names for her.

“And the school or schools? Are they all, um, in town?”

“Well, no. One is a local high school, one is University of Wisconsin Whitewater, and the other is graduating from UW-Madison with her Masters degree.”

“Oh. Okay, we’ll just leave the school off. Now, colors. Do any of the schools share a color in common? Blue? Red? White?” I could tell she was searching now.

“Two out of three share red and white. How’s that?”

“Okay, we’ll use red and white in the frosting. And the third?”

“Purple.”

Pause.

“Purple and …. white?” I could tell she was hoping it wasn’t an ugly combination such as Viking purple and gold.

“Yes, purple and white.” She didn’t sigh with relief, but I heard it in her voice.

“Okay, then I’ll make a note to work in white, red, and purple in the frosting.”

We went over the details and arranged for the pick-up time.

Good thing the cake doesn’t need to include our anniversary (last Wednesday) and my brother’s birthday (last Tuesday) on top of the rest. We could have had pictures for the brand new babies who will be here, too — okay, enough already. A cake is a cake is a cake! Now I’d better start gathering the cloth napkins and making potato salad and setting up the condiments for the burgers and….