Today is my birthday, and I got a pie for the occasion.

All these years, I’ve been going back and forth between ice cream cakes and fruit cakes. After a tremendous last year, I wanted something new for my birthday.

I can’t pinpoint what led to the desire to try new things.

Maybe it was the fact my son was growing fast; the weather turned so cold, or how boring those perfect cakes looked on the internet.

So, I got a bourbon pecan pie from Three Babes Bakeshop in San Francisco. They ship nationwide, in case you wonder. It was as delicious as it looked. You can really taste the brown sugar and a healthy splash of bourbon. I tried topping my slice with ice cream, but it was better without the addition. Less is more; I should have known.

My husband and I watched a movie at home while enjoying the pie. Halfway through the movie, I thought I liked the idea of change already.

There is no need to make the change so big and so hard. Build your way up there slowly. 

Start with something as quirky and insignificant as a bourbon pecan pie for your birthday.

Surprise yourself with the unexpected delights, childlike giddiness and wonder. It’s freeing to be curious, to do things just for fun, to say ‘yes’ without playing all the worst-case scenarios in your head.

Maybe it was the fact my son was growing too fast for me to keep up, the weather turned too cold to feel comfortable, or those cakes were too perfect to cut open without feeling a sense of guilt.

I wanted a bourbon pecan pie for my birthday. I wanted to feel something new.

It felt good without even trying hard.

The pie made me think of the life I hadn’t lived. All those choices I’d made set me off in a domino effect. Maybe I can start another chain of events, starting with a pie for my birthday.  

This post was originally published on my blog.

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