Tasty Memories & Thankful Pie

“Justin! Ellie! Time for dinner!”

“Come on, Ellie,” said Justin, helping his little sister down from the backyard swing.

“Let’s go wash up.”

“Okay, Jussin. Gotta wash so we can eat,” Ellie sang as she marched indoors.

The family sat down around the table and bowed their heads as Dad began to pray. “Thank you, Lord, for this food and for all the great things you’ve given to us. Help us to remember the gift of your Son and what he’s done to bring us salvation. Amen.”

“Amen!” Ellie repeated. “I’m hungwy!”

“Pass your plate then, and we’ll fill it up,” said Mom.

As everyone began to eat, Dad turned to Mom and said, “I’ve got a great idea for your birthday, Dear.”

“It’s Mom’s birfday?” asked Justin through a mouthful of mashed potatoes.

“Jussin, mind yo manners,” said Ellie, waggling her finger at her brother.

“Yes,” Dad answered. “Mom’s birthday is coming up in two days.”

“Well, what’s your great idea?” Mom asked curiously.

Dad swallowed his last bite and put his fork down. “Well,” he said proudly, “I think that we should have the most special food you’ve ever eaten. What is the most favorite food that you can remember?”

“Hmm.” Mom’s forehead crinkled as she tried to think.

“I know what my favorite is,” said Justin. “Cheesy fries!”

“Really?” said Mom. “I didn’t know that was your favorite.”

“Well,” Justin replied, “besides fried chicken, chocolate cake, cheeseburgers, and strawberry ice cream—cheesy fries are my favorite!”

“Okay.” Dad chuckled. “So why are cheesy fries your favorite?”

“I remember when I ate them after we saw a great baseball game. Remember?”

“I wemember dat ’cause Jussin wouldn’t give me any,” Ellie said, making a pouty face.

“Since our team won,” Justin continued, “the man at the counter gave me doubledecker fries with extra cheese sauce! Those were the best fries ever!”

“That’s a great memory,” said Mom. “I remember when—”

“I know what my favwite food is!” Ellie interrupted. “Mommy and I were on a girls’ day. I wemember when we got ice cweam. It was da biggest ice cweam ever!”

“That’s right,” said Mom. “It was a huge sundae. We couldn’t decide which ice cream flavor we liked best.”

“Yeah!” Ellie giggled. “So we got all diffwent kinds! And it was dee-wicious!” Ellie licked her lips as she remembered that special ice cream sundae.

“But you know what my favorite is—” Mom began again.

“Oooh!” Dad exclaimed. “I’ll bet you guys never had anything as yummy as I’ve had.”

“What Dad?” asked Justin excitedly.

“It was on my first date with Mom,” Dad explained. “We decided to go to a fancy restaurant.”

“Oh, yes!” Mom laughed. “You were so nervous, you tried to read your menu upside down.”

Dad grinned. “Oh, I hoped you had forgotten about that part.” He chuckled at the memory then continued. “Anyway, after I finally turned my menu over so I could read it, I saw something there that I had heard of and wanted to try.”

“Chocwutt cake?” asked Ellie.

“No, no, nothing like that,” Dad replied. “It was fried squid.”

“What’s that?” Justin asked, scrunching up his face.

“You know, kinda like an octopus. They cook it up, and you dip it in sauce.”

“Eww! That sounds yucky to me,” Justin exclaimed.

“Well, to tell you the truth,” said Dad, “I don’t really remember what it tasted like. I just remember feeling super happy because I was so in love with your mom.” Dad and Mom laughed as they leaned over and gave each other a big smoochy kiss—just to tease the kids.

“Oh brother!” said Justin, rolling his eyes.

“Icky, yucky!” shouted Ellie.

“Well,” said Dad. “We’ve heard what everyone else’s memories are; what about you, Dear?”

Everyone stared at Mom, waiting for her story. “Oh,” she said. “Well, I think my favorite food is from the time when—”

Ding-dong! The doorbell interrupted Mom’s story once again.

“Excuse me,” said Dad as he got up and went to the front door. But it didn’t take long for him to come back into the room holding a large pink box in his hands.

“What is that?!” asked Mom in surprise.

“It’s your favorite food in the whole world, Dear. Happy ‘early’ birthday,” said Dad. He opened the box so they could all see the beautiful coconut cream pie from the bakery.

“You remembered!” Mom exclaimed. “Quick, let’s eat it. I love this stuff!”

The family each took a piece of the velvety pie with crunchy coconut on top.

“How come this is Mom’s favorite?” Justin asked between bites.

“Because, Justin,” Dad explained, “this is the pie I got for Mom the day we brought Ellie home from the hospital.”

“I remember that day so well,” said Mom. “It’s very special to me because it was the first time when we were all home together as one big, happy family. And every time I taste this luscious, creamy pie, I can’t help but feel thankful all over again for each one of you.”

“That’s pretty cool, Mom. Maybe we should call it ‘thankful pie,’” suggested Justin.

“Great idea,” said Mom.

“How about a second helping of that thankful pie?” said Dad, passing his plate for another slice.

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