Bourbon Swirl Caramel Cheesecake

Bourbon!

Now that got your attention, didn’t it?

I was thinking about a conversation i had with my friend, Lydia a few days ago. She usually starts out talking about some fabulous dessert concoction that she has tried…

L: In gratitude, Bourbon Swirl Cheesecake
M: Is that made with real Bourbon?
L: Of course it’s made with real Bourbon
M: Shades of misspent, but well worth living, youth
L: If it was worth living, it wasn’t misspent
M: Agreed! Never misspent if we learned from the experience

Misspent Youth

Whenever people are questioned about what they’d do differently if they could go back, almost all of us will reply, “I’d have had more fun.” A few will say, “I would have been nicer/ kinder.”

But as the above conversation attests, for the most part, I think the majority of us wouldn’t have changed very many things from the past.

Granted, some of the experiences were painful, and hard to get through, emotionally. Some were costly on multiple levels. We may have lost a few friends or paid dearly in some other way. But, I think we cannot, and in fact, should not waste away lamenting our past.

David and Bathsheba

I am reminded of a particularly low period in David’s life. This is not a story the faint-hearted, people who think that everyone in the Bible is pure of heart, nor for children. I recommend that you read it for yourself, but here is the Cliff Notes version.

King David sees Bathsheba, and is determined that he must have her for himself. He and Bathsheba get together, but there was a problem. Bathsheba had a husband. David had her husband put in the front line to be killed. They were expecting a baby and I am sure this was complicated but joyful time for them.

Their first baby together did not survive, and David is crushed. He tears his clothes and covers himself with ashes. Just about the same thing most of us would do in this situation. But later, they have another son, Solomon, who survives. It would be difficult to imagine that even after all the turmoil that they have been through together, that he would have been able to restrain his joy when this child was finally born. All the pain and bitterness that had preceded Solomon’s birth comes out all mostly alright. David has learned a few lessons and he gets his personal act, and most of his kingdom, if not his other children, back together for a short time.

Turning tears into Celebration

Every experience from our jaded, dubious and questionable past actions has brought us to today.

This is what you should think every morning as you roll out of bed...

Every day that I have lived until now, has led me to today.

What can I make of today to make it worthwhile?

Today, we are alive, and mostly intact. We can laugh at our youthful indiscretion, foolishness, exuberance and daring.

For some of it, we will roll on the floor laughing at ourselves. Some, we can only shake our heads at our previous selves.

But if we are laughing, we have survived. We have survived, we have learned and we are the stronger for it.

And the real bonus is that we can share those moments, and help a few people not fall in every single freaking hole and trap we fell into. Only a few, because as another friend reminded me, not everyone will listen, until it hurts enough.

Stop, stop, stop lamenting and replaying all the crappy stuff that happened to you!!

Applaud yourself and celebrate for coming through and the lessons you brought with you.
It’s an old saying- “we are blessed to be a blessing.”

Everything we have gone through didn’t feel like a blessing while we were in the midst of the storm, but here we are together sharing Bourbon Swirl Cheesecake…

When do you plan on taking control of your own life, again?


If you are interested in making these with or without Bourbon, here is the recipe link.