In case you haven’t caught on yet, last Monday was National Pie Day.  I had never heard of this holiday until recently, so naturally, I was all over it.  What better excuse to bake (and eat) tons of pie?  I spent the weekend baking up a storm and then the whole family hit the pavement to Pie it Forward.

We spent the day back in our old neighborhood showering our friends and former neighbors with packages of pie.

First on my list were some friends from a group of moms that I met when my son was born.  I love these ladies and will eventually get pie to all of them!  These are women who withheld their judgement as I wished for my cat to die in a freak accident during the early weeks of my son’s birth. They didn’t flinch when I fled a party after mere minutes because our entire family was having a meltdown.  These are the friends who made me feel as if it was perfectly normal to stick my one year old in a blow-up baby bathtub filled with masses of leftover cooked pasta because I was out of ideas to entertain him. And for that, they deserve pie for the rest of their lives.

Then is was on to the old ‘hood to drop in unexpectedly on some neighbors.

Neighbors are like family – no matter where you go, they will always be your neighbors.  As soon as each door opened, we were invited into their homes and spent the time talking, laughing and reminiscing.  My pie obsession was news to them, but they gratefully accepted the surprise package.

We wrapped up our time there and headed back so my husband could do his first official Pie it Forward.  My husband has chronic hives (don’t ask, we don’t know) and the pharmacist at our local drive-through pharmacy has gone the extra mile to help him.  She remembers his name, knows his prescriptions and makes him feel like she genuinely cares.

You should have seen the look on her face when instead of handing pills out of the window, she was handed a bag of pie into the window!  Although she was grateful for the nice gesture, she seemed a bit confused and surprised.  While I’m sure she does not get thank you pie everyday, we also learned the key to Pie it Forward – don’t forget to tell someone why you are thanking them!  I think my husband was a little nervous and he forgot to explain WHY he was giving her pie.  Practice will make perfect.

And now, the moment we have been waiting for…

The winner of the first Pie it Forward Challenge!

Lisa from Monterey, CA!

Lisa had a great story and really went out of her comfort zone to Pie it Forward!  She took the challenge and decided to extend her gratitude to Ronny Cox, an actor turned singer/songwriter who took the time last year to talk with her son and give him some advice about professional acting.  Here’s an excerpt from Lisa’s story:

It made me happy that this man would not only come to a small church that no one outside the area would have ever heard of and play a benefit concert for a small group of people to help a small, largely unknown, charity and to make himself accessible to everyone who came. So I decided that’s who I should give my pie (cake) to, Ronny Cox, actor, singer, songwriter and genuinely good person.

Nice work, Lisa!  You will receive this awesome decal/poster from Spiffy Decals.