If baking is any labor at all, it's a labor of love. A love that gets passed from generation to generation.

The secret to success, to parenting, to life, is to not count up the cost. Don't focus on all the steps it will take. Don't stare into the abyss at the giant leap it will take. That view will keep you from taking the next small step.

Choas will come, calm will follow, and then it will start up all over again. The secret is to savor the ride.

Forgive everyone everything.

Baking happens with ingredients that last for months and come to life inside a warm oven. Baking is slow and leisurely.

It's scary to make major changes, but we usually have enough courage to take the next right step. One small step and then another. That's what it takes to raise a child, to get a degree, to write a book, to do whatever it is your heart desires.

The idea of being stuck in a plane with dozens of people chatting over each other on their phones might feel like Dante's 10th circle of hell.