To the joy of squeezing bread
My first job started at age 10. After my family arrived from Cebu to Guam, my family started working at my uncle’s bakery right away.
My brother, just 11, trained as a baker while I found myself slicing loaves of white Pullman bread—200 loaves a day, every day after school and on weekends.
I remember my little fingers getting cut by the slicer and the many times I got in trouble because I squeezed the breads too hard.
I got out of it after teaching myself to decorate cakes. By the time I was 11, I could decorate racks of cakes faster than any adult. Cakes got me out of bread slicing and I found my art.
There wasn’t much time for play in my childhood; it was all about work. From slicing bread to decorating cakes, the bakery life shaped my world.
Now, as an adult, it has taken time for me to gain a larger perspective and to look back with more gratitude and humor.
I never choose to buy or eat Pullman bread, maybe it’s trauma-related. But I do enjoy the irony of squeezing those white loaves for fun.
It’s a small reminder of how far this journey has been—from working hard without a choice to now owning my time and savoring the little joys.
That includes traveling here in Taiwan on a trade mission representing our 25-year-old bakery business. And it also includes playing with these tiny loaves of perfectly cubed bread.
It reminds me that even if life may not have been easy, every step, every loaf, has led to the here and now- to a life of freedom and adventure borne from skills I had to learn as a child.
Just know even if life seems tough- it gonna lead you to better times.
Here’s to the journey, the growth, and yes, the healing joy of squeezing bread.
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