Back in college, I was fortune enough to have some awesome roomies. Some completely psychotic roomies, too, but for now let’s focus on the positive. One of the two other girls in our triple – Kali – ended up becoming one of my very best friends. We have the same birthday, and a freakish amount of stuff in common. I’m not sure if it’s the zodiac connection or just an excellent job by the Kresge housing department at UCSC, but we matched up well. Same favorite childhood book (Mandy), same comfort item from home, more or less (mine, a stuffed puppy named Puppy, hers, a stuffed duck named Duck), same political views, etc.
Anyway, when our 18th birthday rolled around, my mom sent us a cookie bouquet. This was before those things were everywhere, and it was pretty spectacular. It was a very sweet gift, no pun intended despite how much I love puns, but my mom made a small error on the names. Now, of course, she knows how to spell Kali’s name, but two months in and 500 miles away, she got it wrong. So the flower shaped cookies were frosted to read “Happy Birthday Corina & Callie”. When another roommate, Merrie-Lynn, heard about this, she had some words of wisdom for us: it’s just more icing. It might have been the influence of Santa Cruz, but that one sentence struck a chord within me. So now I try to look at every mistake as just more icing. It’s not always possible, but it still helps more often than not. Ten years later, I’d say that’s pretty damn good.
So, my humble advice to you, as gleaned from a hippie Louisiana native with a soft voice, a shaved head, and a heart of gold…next time something goes wrong, try to see it as just more icing.