April 30, 2014

The Parable of the Pie




There once was a young girl named Savannah who approached her mother one afternoon and inquired as to what she could do, for she was bored.

As someone who rarely gets bored, Savannah said she didn't feel like doing any of the stuff she usually likes to do.

A random idea entered this usually daft mother's head as she preceded with the dinner prep, and asked Savannah if she would like to make chocolate chip cookies or key lime pie.

A smile lit up Savannah's face as she excitedly responded, "Pie!"

Her mother told her where to find the key lime juice and told her to follow the instructions on the bottle.

Soon, the ingredients were assembled and the blender stood ready.

But Savannah paused as she turned a question to her mom. "It says to only use egg yolks, not the whites. How do we do that?"

The mother paused the dinner prep and pulled out a slotted spoon, did a little eyebrow jiggle and said, "With this."

The mother then proceeded to demonstrate her rather marvelous egg separating skills and showed Savannah how to do it herself.

She then handed over the spoon, and Savannah gave it a try.

As soon as she had cracked the egg onto the spoon, the bright yellow yolk began to leak out of a small tear.

Devastated that she had messed up, Savannah started to bemoan that fact that she had ruined everything and couldn't do anything right.

Stepping in, the mother wholeheartedly assured her that she had done nothing of the sort.

With another eyebrow jiggle, she said, "Watch this".

She then carefully scooped out as much of the eye yolk as possible and gave a hearty, "See? No biggie! Now try again with the last egg."

Once again, Savannah picked up the egg and cracked it onto the spoon.

Once again, the yolk began to leak just a bit, but this time, Savannah quickly intervened and moved as much of the egg yolk as she could.

With a "well done" from her mom, and a renewed smile on her face, Savannah continued to add the remaining ingredients. Soon, the blender was in motion.

Once everything was well mixed, Savannah picked up the pre-made Keebler graham cracker crust, held it up over her head and called over to her mother, who was now feeding the baby on the couch, if she should pour it all into the crust.

Just as she finished asking, the pie crust slipped from Savannah's fingers and crashed onto the counter top, breaking the whole thing up into a million pieces.

Savannah stared in devastation and began to cry, once again proclaiming that she ruins everything and that she never should have tried in the first place.

Putting the baby down, the mother walked back into the kitchen, and calmly started putting the pie crust back together as best she could, assuring Savannah it was okay.

Reluctantly, Savannah helped with the reconstruction and soon they had a pie crust again. Perhaps not as smooth or pretty as before, but a crust nonetheless.

Not long after, the filling was poured, cooked, and set aside to cool.

Whip cream was made and refrigerated until the pie was cool enough to have it added.

Later that night after dinner, the mother handed Savannah a spatula and told her to add the cream to the pie so they could all try it out.

Savannah did as instructed only to be found standing still, staring at it. "It doesn't look very good, does it." she stated sadly.

The mother placed a hand on her shoulder and responded, "I think it looks wonderful."

After slicing up the pie, Savannah took a bite and the mother asked her how it tasted.

This time with a huge smile on her face, Savannah happily answered, "Good!"

For the second time that day, (which is a rare and earth-shattering occurrence for her) a quiet thought entered into this mother's mind and soon found it coming out of her mouth as well.

"Aren't you glad you didn't give up? Sure you made a couple mistakes along the way, and maybe your pie isn't the prettiest thing in the world to look at, but it tastes awesome. Aren't you glad now that you didn't quit?

It's kind of how life is too. Sometimes we make mistakes and think that we've ruined everything or that we can't do anything right. But if we give up and quit trying, we will miss out on the good stuff that comes at the end."

(I know right? Could anything possibly be any cheesier than that?)

And despite the fact that it was super cheesy sounding and may have made you roll your eyes a bit, one nine-year old girl saw and understood the connection, and smiled as she took another bite of her pie.

5 super cool people speak:

Emily said...

definitely did NOT roll my eyes!! love this post so much i'm going to save it for future reference. thanks so much for sharing!

Mama Smith said...

You tell Savannah...that she made one of Papa's VERY FAVORITE PIES!!!! I thought it turned out FANTASTIC! Give her hugs from me!

Saimi said...

Awww!!! What a cute little baker! I love this post and like Emily, I did not roll my eyes, more like I drooled from my mouth, her pie looks AWESOME!!!

Meagan said...

It might be because it is late here, but I teared up a little bit.

Katherine said...

Aw, how sweet.

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