PEACHY PINK MEMORIES
It’s amazing the power that a single memory can have on you. As I created a beautiful peachy pink birthday cake for an adorable one year old to smash, I was reminded of my own childhood and how sweet it really was, simply from the color of the cake that I was creating.
The story of 2950 Lansford Avenue began Memorial Weekend, 1990. Penny Parisi said it was a house with “good bones.” Dad saw the potential of what could be, but as Mom would put it, “It was never the house of my dreams.” With its 1960’s-style grasscloth and foil wallpaper, car port that barely fit both the white station wagon and blue Honda Accord, tired-looking iron gates, and dirt brown exterior paint job, the 1950’s ranch-style house situated in an up-and-coming neighborhood of San Jose had seen better days. But, as our first house, it was magical to me.
My room was tucked back in the corner of the house, away from the hustle and bustle of everything. It was my little nook, and it the perfect color: peach. Mom said that she wanted to paint it a salmon-y peach because bright pink was too girly, and yellow was just too wishy-washy. So peach it was. Regardless of the state the house was in, that room was filled to the brim with with memories. Forts made of sheets strewn from the bed to chairs that were pulled in from the living room. Doll beds for my American Girl dolls, Mollie and Samantha. A dark mohagony heirloom dresser that stored all my clothes and of course, the clothes for my Barbies. And a mirrored closet door because that was the early 90’s style. Boy was that room heaven to me - I would play for hours and hours in the peachy space.
When I started working on this cake and cupcake order, a flood of memories quickly came back. I thought of my peach room, the house I grew up in, and what that safe place meant to me. It fueled my creativity. It gave me comfort. It laid a strong foundation. I realize today that not many people can say they have had that, and I feel so incredibly grateful for my childhood and the beautiful home that my parents created for us for 28 years. It has given me purpose to create that very type of home for my own family, for my son. And maybe someday, the deep, ocean blue color of his room will bring back fond memories for him too.