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It’s a pretty simple pie. It’s chocolate pudding in a pie crust, and my mom makes her own pie crust. It’s been a holiday staple (Thanksgiving and Christmas) since I was a kid.
But this was the first chocolate pie my mom had attempted to make since my dad died last year. Because my dad loved chocolate pie, and she would make an extra one every year to ensure he had leftovers after the rest of the family had attacked it.
You’ll notice that the picture of the pie I included above is not a chocolate pie. Instead, it’s a picture of the apple pie my brother Josh made. (Best crust ever.) I didn’t take a picture of my mom’s chocolate pie because she was so unhappy with it.
Her head wasn’t quite on straight when she was baking the crust last night. She always used shortening to make her pie crusts, but she was out of shortening, so she used butter instead. She accidentally used twice as much butter as the recipe called for.
It still tasted good. The crust was crispier than it should have been, but it wasn’t bad. It just…wasn’t Mom’s Chocolate Pie.
But the fact that she made it at all is a really big deal. I think it’s a step toward healing. We all miss my dad terribly, but it’s hardest for my mom, for obvious reasons. He wasn’t there to taste the dressing for her. He wasn’t there to lift the turkey out of the roaster pan and carve it. He wasn’t there for her to chase out of the kitchen because he was getting in the way. And he wasn’t there to eat chocolate pie.
That’s me: Christina Gleason. I’m a writer, editor, and disability advocate. I'm a multiply disabled autistic lady doing my best in this world built for abled people. I’m a geek for grammar, fantasy, and casual gaming. I hate vegetables. I cannot reliably speak, so I’ll happily conduct business over email or messaging instead.
