A Little Piece of Joy

She was a farm girl. If you saw a photo of her you would have said she was plain or perhaps you may not even glance at her photo. If you saw her in person though you would have said she was the most beautiful girl you had ever met. Her eyes sparkled when she smiled and she had a giggle that made you feel as though you were the funniest person she had ever met. In her older age her skin developed deep lines from years of exposure to the harsh New Zealand sun. She didn't care too much about style and it wasn't uncommon for her to wear socks with sandals. Something her grandchildren would laugh about together years after her death.

She wasn't afraid to try new things. At the age of 77 she was taking Ukulele lessons and had learned to text with a mobile phone. Some would say she had a hard life. Some would say she had a great life. Most would say she had a simple life.

When she died at the age of 78, five hundred people came to her funeral. For a simple life, she impacted a lot of people.

Her name was Joy.

When she died, for a moment my life was impacted. Maybe that moment lasted a little longer. Her simple life that impacted many people inspired me and I was going to change the world simply through loving people the way she did in her everyday life.

Fast forward three years and the pressures of the world and life have crept back in and I find myself looking for success in places that don't really matter. I am restless and bored and waiting for life to drop something in my lap that says “Lisa, if you do this your life will matter!” When did I stop thinking that living a simple, everyday life mattered?

This restless heart has longed to write something that matters but for so long I have lacked the motivation so my pen has stayed silent. Writing about everyday musings is just not inspiring. The routine and mundane of life drags along and lets face it, countless blogs – especially parenting ones have been way overdone. What do I have to say that is any different from anyone else?

And yet this desire stays and still I search for something to write about. I think back to a time where I was fulfilled making my cakes and writing my Mrs Woolleys Cake blog. That season has passed and now I am working and helping to support my growing family. I won't go into the difficulties right now that I would face to start a cake business and it's a decision I know is the right one and I am reasonably content with that. That's enough isn't it? When you are a creative person though you realise that it is not enough. The need to create is deep within my core and it's part of what makes me me.

And then I heard it. That small seed of inspiration crept in and unlocked the floodgates of creativity that had been sitting and waiting, dormant for some time.

“Write about cakes and simple every day life.”

“But I've done that!” I cried “I can't run a business and I really just do not have the time!”

“Bless others and write about them”

And then the idea formed. An idea that has been locked away since my dear Grandma passed away three years ago. A Little Piece of Joy. Allowing me to create the cakes that I long to and to write about them without the pressures of having to run a business.

Everyone has a story. A life that matters. Most of us do not do anything great according to the worlds standards and yet life is not about that one great thing you do. At the end of your life, all the little pieces of your life add up to create a whole and hopefully inspiring simple life. I want to honor those lives and I want to tell those stories. Because those are the lives that really matter. More than just tell their stories, I want to create them with cake.