We live in a small town. My son plays hockey every year with a group of kids the same age as him. In the summer about half of the team play softball together.

Three years ago I was talking to their goalie before a game and he mentioned the he would like to score a goal. I told him that goalies do score goals and that if he scored a goal I would bake him a cake. He said, “Really?” and I said, “Yes, but don’t take chances. If you’re up by a couple and they’ve pulled their goalie and there’s 30 seconds left and you have possession with time to take the shot, go for it, but if you flub it and get in trouble don’t mention my name.”

That summer they played softball for the first time. We were talking and the goalie said something about hitting the fence. I told him that if he hit the fence I would bake him a cake. The whole team found out and we talked about it on and off. When it became obvious that no one was going to hit the fence that year I added a home run to the list of things that would get them a cake. They made it through the entire year without getting a cake. In the year end tournament the girl who was my son’s defense partner in hockey, hit a home run and good to my word I baked a couple of cakes (a blue one for our team and a red one for the other local team that we played the final game against.)

This year, at the start of the softball season, the kids who know me and I talked about some cake rules but we hadn’t really settled on any. The discussions were ongoing. While I was sitting watching the practice a couple of parents walked up and said, “Hi, Mapleengineer.” I said, “Hi.” Then he asked, “Have you set the cake rules yet?” I said, “You want cake?” She said, “It’s really good cake.”

So, one of the players hit a grand slam two games ago and I baked cakes and took them to the next game, this past Monday. While the parents were sitting watching the game and eating cake he hit another. So…I owe them cake today, too.

I love watching the kids play and I love making cake so it’s a win-win.