Mother’s Day Sucks, So I’m Baking a Pie

If you lost your mom, grandmother, aunt or similarly mother figure this year, please know you’re not alone in the world on such a hard holiday. The days leading up to Mother’s Day, and the day itself, are not easy.

It’s hard to see the joy that surrounds everyone celebrating their mom and, well, here we are wishing for just another moment, another day, another year, or another century with ours. It feels very lonely as you observe the world celebrating all things “mom” and simply can no longer relate with these expressions of joy. Mother’s Day feels like a thousand pounds of bricks sitting on your chest. The day never gets easier as the years go on, but here are a few tips that help me deal with the heavy day.  

1.       Be gentle on yourself right now. If you need to have a moment to yourself and cry, do it. There is nothing that can or will ever replace her.

2.       Write her a letter. I know this sounds crazy, but spend some time telling her how you feel. Be open and honest. No one is going to read it except for you, so it is safe space to be in with such big emotions.

3.       Know that it’s okay to spend some time in wonderland. Wondering what she would look like now, what her quirks would be these days, advice she would have or silly inside joke you two would have keeps her memory alive.

4.       Use your support system. I know a lot of people who are motherless, and we spend the day remembering our moms together. There truly is strength in numbers.

5.       Find some joy. If you feel up to it, pull out some old pictures of her and just be in the moment. Share stories about her and keep her memory alive.

If you still have your Mom, cherish her. Call her more. Spend time with her because “Tomorrow is promised to no one”, as my Granny used to tell me.

I am always unsure exactly what feelings Mother’s Day will stir up, but I choose to take them as they come. Some moments I catch myself feeling sad and then something will change on that day I dread every year and it reminds me to focus on the immediate present.

So, in honor of my Granny and her family famous lemon meringue ice box pie, I am going to share her recipe with others. Life will hand us lemons like losing our moms, but today, I’m going to choose to make a pie (tip 5 coming in clutch).

Granny’s Family Famous Lemon Meringue Ice Box Pie

Ingredients:

·         2 cans sweetened condensed milk

·         2/3 cups lemon juice

·         4 egg yolks

·         1 tsp cream of tartar

·         2 graham cracker pie crusts

·         4 egg whites

·         4 tbs of sugar

1.       Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites.

2.       Beat the egg whites and add in egg yolks gradually. Mix the eggs well with the sweetened condensed milk.

3.       Add in the lemon juice to the egg and sweetened condensed milk mixture.

4.       Pour the mixture into a pie crust.

Meringue

1.       Add the cream of tartar and sugar to egg whites. Beat until forever or at least until the egg white mixture holds a peak.

2.       Add the egg white mixture onto pie.

3.       Bake at 350 until the tops of meringue are brown.

Yields 2 pies – one to share and one for you. Refrigerate for a few hours and enjoy it to no end.