I Can't Hear Myself Thinking

We have all heard the phrase, "I can't hear myself thinking."  I know for sure where it comes from, because it happened again today!


I love all varieties of cheesecakes and pound cakes.  I love making them and collecting recipes.  Since I fixed a mint cheesecake for St Patrick's Day I decided to share my joy for making these desserts by making a pound cake for a friend.

As I went through recipes, I was thinking how the internet is making it so easy to find new adventurous delights, I was reminded of my father-in-law's love for 7-Up pound cake.  He was a semi-pro baseball player for 7-Up during the 30's and later part owner of the 7-Up bottling plant in the city were I was raised.  Since Easter reminds me of family and family was so dear to him, 7-Up pound cake would be the perfect choice.


Along came my sixth child, a non-stop-except-when-he-sleeps talker!  No, my sixth isn't a girl. He is a cowboy boot-wearing, Batman-Robin Hood-loving Boy!


As I was studying the familiar recipe... he was talking!


As I was counting out the cups...he was talking!  The numbers in my head were 1 and 2, while he was verbalizing 10, 18, 22!


As I was checking to make sure I hadn't forgotten something during this process...he was talking!

Then I stopped, inhaled, and heard the phrase, "I can't hear myself thinking!" My foggy 49-year-old, change-of-life brain wasn't working.  I had to laugh, still struggling through his talking to put our creation into the oven.


My father-in-law would have loved the pound cake, but more than that, he would have loved to have seen our fifth boy.  He came from a family of five boys...I sure wish I could have talked to his mother.  As we gave the pound cake away and made another for us, he would have loved the fact that I was enjoying my son, even though "I couldn't hear myself thinking."


This is dedicated to my father-in-law who loved life, never took anything too seriously, and loved his family so deeply.  His memory still richly blesses me even after 15 years of his entry into Heaven.  We will see him someday!  This Easter weekend, we will enjoy this 7-Up pound cake and I will walk down memory lane with the two sons that never knew their amazing, loving granddad.