Even after 7 years I can still remember the young man in the cutlery store. I had just seen the second Lord of the Rings movie. Little did I know I would see it 11 more times in the theater. There’s no way to count how many times I’ve seen it at home.

My heart had stopped during the scene where Eowyn pulls out her sword. Somehow..somewhere..I knew I had once held a sword, but not to attack with. I felt I had used it to set a firm boundary. .

It became important to me to hold a sword in my hands. Ah, but where to go? Try looking up swords in the yellow pages! My quest led me to a cutlery store in one of the local malls. On the wall I saw Glamdring, Gandalf’s sword. That would have to do.

I asked the young man behind the counter if I could please hold the sword. He brought it down and placed it in my trembling hands. I held it high – something they really don’t like you doing in the mall – as tears fell down my face.

“I’ll bet working around all these swords must be wonderful for you,” I said, expecting him to wax poetic about his dreams of battle and choice of weaponry.

“Actually,” he told me,” I’m holding out for one of these.” He pointed to a block of kitchen knives. “I’m going to be a pastry chef!”

Too funny!!

Today I walked into that same store in the same mall. I was telling that story to the man behind the counter, who gave me a broad smile when I told him about the pastry knives.

“That was my son you spoke to. He was still in high school.”

So I asked the father if his son had followed his heart into the cooking world.

He did, indeed, follow his heart…and became a nuclear engineer for the Navy.

But he stills loves to bake!