Sasha couldn’t wait to get her first pocketbook. It signaled that she was no longer a child. After long deliberation, she selected a red and yellow patent leather number to match her new shoes. The question of what to put inside her bag loomed large. Lacking lipstick or wallet, Sasha stuffed her bag with tissues. Now her bag looked like her Mom’s — satisfyingly plump. By the time she got to church, her feet ached inside her stiff new shoes and her arm grew weary of dangling her new bag from the crook of her arm. Later, Sasha gladly traded in her pocketbook for a backpack, carefully embroidering a peace symbol on the front flap.

 (Cake Design: Tony LaMonte)