My sweet friend has endured hardship after hardship her whole life. The most awful luck and tragedies have plagued her since childhood, and almost every time we speak, I watch her lip quiver, her eyes fill with tears, and all I can do is pet her hair while I hug her and try to tell her everything will be OK. The poor thing is always teetering on the edge of a breakdown, for many good reasons, and it breaks my heart to pieces to know I can’t fix a single thing.

But through all that adversity, she smiles brightly and loves deeply and works so, so hard to be the best she can be. She is the most grateful person I have ever met, the most thoughtful, too, and her friendship has been a blessing in my life. Despite being under constant, unimaginable stress, she musters the energy to fill her children’s lives with joyful activities, and she makes every simple outing a memory for them to treasure.

Over the past couple years, I have spent a lot of time with her two beautiful children. Little B and his love of dragons and monsters and all things spooky, and darling R who loves books and her chickens and her Harvey dog who follows her like a shadow. My son and sweet R are the same age, and will both start kindergarten this fall, although not in the same class. Precious R needs extra help at school, but I hope the years of playdates will help them both start with a friend for their first day, and I’m confident that my son will be an example of inclusion and compassion for the other children to follow to make sure she feels accepted and welcome on the day she joins her brother and the other big kids at school.

My friend and I were talking the other day, and she disclosed that R was found (through her insistence with her doctor to order specific blood tests… good job, mama) to have celiac disease. It’s unfortunate that her preferred foods are gluten-packed, but she will adapt to her new diet just like her mother has adapted to every new challenge.

We met up for a picnic in the park and I brought some gluten-free cakes for R to enjoy. Gluten-free baked goods are often dry and unsatisfying, but these cakes are moist, sweet, and honestly the best gluten-free cake I have ever made. I’ll send mama all the recipes I can remember to help her with this transition, one in a long line of difficult changes in her life, and I hope it helps. Nichole, you are the inspiration, and you humble me every day. I love you.

Gluten-free almond cakes

Ingredients — makes about 9 cupcakes:

4 eggs

½ cup sugar

½ teaspoon almond extract

1 ½ cups almond flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch salt

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a muffin tin with paper liners.

In a large mixing bowl beat the sugar, eggs and almond extract until smooth.

Add almond flour, baking powder and salt. Stir until there are no lumps.

Poriton out into the muffin tins leaving ½ inch at the top.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the center is firm.

Allow to cool completely in the pan.

Serve with diluted pear juice and a song.

***The design on the top was made with melted white chocolate and a piping bag***