And The Kentucky Derby Made a Diva Cry, Why?!!!...

It was our privilege to be asked to provide the cake for

the Wilmington Junior League's fundraiser,

the Mint Julep Jubilee Kentucky Derby Party!!!

Our cake design included two sugarpaste rose shaped Chapeaus

(that's French for "Hats" for us novices!!!)

that were inspired by the work of our friend 

and well known milliner, Jan of aMuse Artisanal Finery!

Diva #3 (Jennifer) and Honorary Diva (Wendy)

beautifully represented all of us at this wonderful event!

And the Kentucky Derby made me cry why?!!!...

I (Diva #1 - Deborah!) know little about sports and absolutely nothing about horse racing!  In fact, after we Divas were asked to do the cake for the Junior League's annual fundraiser, The Mint Julep Jubilee, it took me a while to figure out that it was a party to watch "the most exciting two minutes in sports," The Kentucky Derby!

Diva #3 (Jennifer) represented us at the Mint Julep Jubilee, while Rebekah and I worked at home.  We decided to take a break and watch the Derby on TV.  So my response to the race caught me completely by surprise!

As I watched Orb, who was at the back of the pack, suddenly surge forward and power right through the middle of all those thundering horses to go on to such a significant win, I broke into tears - OK, I sobbed!

Now, as any good psychologist would counsel, there had to be something deeper going on here!

There was.

I am now a "woman of a certain age" (I won't tell you exactly what age, but I will say that I attended college with Farrah Fawcett!).  And my life has not turned out in any way I ever expected.  Five years ago my daughters and I supported each other as together we made a choice to start our lives all over again.

These last few years, in many ways, have been very painful, but they have also been the best years of my life and have resulted in me finally coming into my own!  I now have such a passion for life, with so much to live for, so much I want to do, BUT I feel so far behind.  I feel like I joined my race too late to ever have a chance to "win" - will I ever be able to catch up with all that my heart desires to do?

Then it occurred to me that my age has little to do with it, I have seen my two daughters and their friends struggle with the same fears - "Am I too late?"

But then I read more details about the race and discovered that Rosario, Orb's jockey, ALLOWED ORB TO DROP BACK BEFORE SURGING FORWARD.  Rosario knew his horse!  HIS BEING AT THE BACK OF THE PACK WAS PURPOSEFUL.  This is what it took for Orb to win...

...and I started to cry all over again.