People much smarter than me are scrambling to predict our economic scorecard for 2023. 

“The worst is yet to come” . . . is the log line, the elevator speech, the six-word short story. So says the International Monetary Fund, Bloomberg and clients who, while talking blog topics for next year, slide it in with a nervous laugh.

But I don’t need predictive analytics or spreadsheets to know the recession has descended like an uninvited guest who throws his napkin on the floor. Standing in front of the glass case at my neighborhood Italian store I saw the writing on the glass: one cannoli now costs $3.49. Miniature ones are $1.99. MINIATURE ONES.

The horror.

For my family of five (actually, six, I have a son-in-law now), that’s $21 for dessert. And I eat two so . . . we’re up to $25 bucks.

I decline.

Instead, I bought a package of Italian cookies. Then I conjured up vanilla ice cream with warmed fig compote kissed with orangy Cointreau, ingredients already among my staples at home.

The Cannoli Recession is here. But I won’t let it ding my time with the people I love.

Instead, I’m changing the story narrative: the best is yet to come (minus the cannolis!).

Michele Kelly is an Italian mother, fiction writer and co-founder of K+L Storytellers, a content company for makers in the manufacturing and tech space. Reach out at michele@klstorytellers.com or LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/michelekellystorylove.