Never found a pie I didn’t like

Pie could very well be one of the best things in this life.

Three layers in sweet harmony —crust, filling and topping. My mouth waters just writing about pie.

I don’t know if I can name a favorite kind of pie because I can’t really remember a pie I didn’t like. It was encounters with two different coconut cream pies this past week that set me off.

I bought one of them on sale at the grocery store bakery and relished every sticky slice. No meringue on this pie, just lots of whipped cream and coconut sprinkles. Later in the week when I found coconut cream pie on the menu at my noon Rotary meeting I was prepared to be disappointed after my tour of pie heaven earlier in the week. Nope, it was different, a sweet crust and less piled on top, but it was still great.

Growing up we had a lot of homemade chocolate pies. Mom used to whine that she never got to make anything else because that’s what dad wanted. Man, that chocolate pie was great right out of the refrigerator. Unfortunately most chocolate pie never got a chance to make it to the refrigerator. Most chocolate pies at our house never got a chance to cool.

Years later, I know it’s satisfying to my mother when she makes a chocolate and a lemon pie to see nearly as much of the lemon gone as the chocolate.

I pretty much missed an era in rural America that I really could have gotten into in a big way. Pie suppers were still happening when I grew up but they had mostly become a way of extorting some fundraising action out of local politicians running for office. Buy a pie and get a chance to speak your mind.

In my grandparents’ day, the girls made the pies, which, were auctioned to guys who would get a chance to eat the dessert with the pie baker. The money raised usually provided the extras that country schools needed.

When we lived in Tucumcari, pie became a part of our Saturday night tradition. Dean’s Restaurant baked scads of pies on Saturday to be ready for the crowds on Sunday. We would jump the gun and go by and pickup a whole pie when we got together with friends.

Dean always had beautiful meringue 4 inches tall on his pies. That tall a piece of pie presented some challenges in getting it on the fork but somehow we managed.

Probably my most memorable piece of pie came at my dad’s funeral.

The church for years had chicken fries or meals on the ground at the old Bible Chair at Eastern New Mexico University. My dad had one lady he always liked to tease about whether or not she had brought a chocolate pie that Sunday or not. She always did and would hide it back so he would get a piece. Though that lady had passed on before my dad the story of the two and chocolate pie was still alive that day.

As we started our meal after the funeral a few church members gathered round our family and began to tell the story. Then suddenly out of nowhere appeared a perfect chocolate pie.

Yes pie can be a blessing too.