I'm Not a Pie Guy

Evidently, today is National Pie Guy and not the 3/14 Pi Math Day, but the real baked good type of pie. All American apple pie day is probably how we should label it now that being proud to be an American and loving American traditional values is back in style with the new administration. Truth be told, I've never celebrated National Pie Day and I'm not even sure that I'm that big of a fan of pie (I'd choose cake or cupcakes over pie every day of the week), but just seeing that this is what we are commemorating today made me smile because it reminded me of a story of Blake.

You see, Blake is the kid in the household that has always had an opinion. "Wishy washy", "on the fence", "go along to get along"....none of these phrases are ever heard in conjunction with Blake Carawan. Blake was born knowing how he wants to show up in the world and which pieces of the world he is going to allow into his world. When you have a son like Blake who has such bold opinions and likes/dislikes, it has unbelievable, long-term ripple effects.

Your shopping changes. Your cooking changes. Your actions change. Your behaviors change.

So as I am making my mental grocery list or walking through the store, I'm literally saying in my head, "this food is for John", "Blake won't eat that", "Jackson will want Lucky Charms", etc whatever it might be in the household. I am not sure we fully appreciate how much of a personal shopper mothers are for the household and how expertly we put together ensembles--whether it is food, or decor, or outfits, or gardens--that consider everyone's tastes & preferences in the household. Now that I really think about this point, we should stop and appreciate that this is an amazing ability! Mothers are walking wikipedias about everyone in the household and know everyone's preferences, tolerances, and tastes and are forever trying to optimize them to achieve harmony in the home.

But then there's pie.

For years, I tried to insert pie. Apple pie for the 4th of July, pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, pecan pie because my husband is Southern (and only he really likes pecan pie), peach pie in the summer because it reminded me of a funny story with my mother and sister growing up, chicken pot pie because who doesn't love chicken pot pie???

Blake evidently. "I'm just not a pie guy, Mom".

So despite my best efforts of being an All American Mom, I slowly let go of any pie aspirations until one day Blake asked if we were having pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. My head snapped up and back, I did an aside to an invisible camera with a look like "did I just hear that right?" and then asked him to repeat what he said.

"I'll eat pumpkin pie".

But, but, but.....how can this be? I demanded an explanation for this chaotic and unpredictable behavior! How dare he go and change on me without submitting this critical information in some sort of way that involves documentation and signatures.

"I just decided that I like it now".

And there it is. Proof positive that anyone can change any time they want. Few things are set in stone and cannot change over the course of time.

Now, I need to figure out what we can do for National Pie Day now that I have a pie guy. Incidentally, Blake also told us for years that he wasn't a Muffin Man and his favorite color was brown. Moral of the story? Give your son space and grace to change over time. Just because muffins were off the food docket at some point, doesn't mean that chocolate chip muffins can't become their #1 in a different season of life.