No day seems more appropriate to celebrate with gusto, in my opinion, than Father’s Day. Without intending to diminish my relationship with my mother on any level, I would by lying if I said that my relationship with my father was just like my relationship with my mother. Because, it’s not. Marge is an easy person to like, to love, and to understand. She holds back nothing & dives into life with arms wide open. She is quick to grin, ear to ear, always happy to talk to anyone, and has a hard time saying good bye, even if we’re going to see each other again in just fifteen minutes. My father is pretty much the opposite: quiet, reserved, serious, a little less quick to grin, and even more unlikely to ever take center stage. Whereas Marge can tend to get extremely worked up, er…well…emotional at times, Joel is about as steady as they come. He’s easy going and kind, and perhaps the smartest person I know. Trust me…if you’re ever in a Trivial Pursuit tournament, you want Joel on your team.

I honestly never expected to work as closely with my father as I do, probably because I always considered myself a pastry chef and not a business owner. We are an unlikely pair, and throughout the years, I have often joked about how far this apple rolled away from the apple tree. He loves math and his ability to do mental math is alarming. I hear someone start talking numbers, and my brain shuts down. He is structured, a planner, disciplined and strategic. I am none of those things, although I haven’t given up hope that some of these traits may one day rub off on me. He’s phenomenally generous, but in a smart way. I am also generous, but to a fault. He is quietly confident. I am insecure. He is an engineer. I am a dreamer.

All of this said, there’s a lot that we do have in common. We’re both incredible patient people, which comes in handy on a daily basis…for Joel, working with me must make his white hair turn whiter, but he has never once become frustrated with my learning curve, and has never once stopped trying to teach me. We’re both hard workers…while I wouldn’t say that I’m officially a work-a-holic, I’m hovering very close to that precipice. My father worked hard his entire life, and even though I was never really able to explain what the hell he did (um….corporate stuff), his career and his life always loomed large to me as a true success story. Perhaps most importantly, I am blessed to have Joel’s steady temperament. (no offense Marge…we all love you for who you are). There is little that comes my way that seems insurmountable; it’s not an easy thing to explain, but it’s true. Deep in the core of this dreamer is a rationalist, a realist, a problem-solver and an optimist, and much of this comes from modeling how my father has approached life.

My father & I now work closely on a daily basis. He is an intregal part of the babycakes team, and I can happily & readily admit that without him, my business would be a very different entity than it currently is. If I could have one wish, it would be that everyone could have the chance to meet my father, and get to hang out with him for a while. Trying to write about him doesn’t come close to doing him justice. Dad – Happy Father’s Day…thank you for your love, your support, your patience, your dry sense of humor, your big picture vision, your love of chocolate, for moving down the road from us, for being a truly great friend and an amazing grandfather, for coming to all of the kids’ games & competitions, for being a key member of ‘Operation Carpool’, and most of all, for never giving up on me. xoxo