I always liked the saying, “Life is uncertain, eat dessert first.” I should like it as I was pretty much raised with this motto in mind, at least by one parent. My dad would take us out for hot fudge sundaes before dinner, but we were not allowed to tell our mom! So when I brought home a banana cream pie for my dad for his 75th birthday present at around 3:30PM and our dinner reservations were for 5:00PM, of course we cut right into it and ate a couple of big pieces. Would we “spoil our supper?” Who cares — it’s PIE!
Now a note about this pie and why I didn’t make it myself. I can’t use traveling in the RV as an excuse, because I just made a pie in the big rig two days ago. I also could have used my parents’ kitchen, but then the pie wouldn’t have been a surprise. My best and easiest solution was to buy one. And I knew exactly the place. The Apple Pan. We shot our pie TV pilot there in January, and Apple Pan’s banana cream pie was one of the best I’ve ever eaten. You will never find a banana cream pie with more bananas in it!
When I stopped at the Apple Pan to pick up the pie I made a point to say hello to the owner, Sunny. She gets a lot of TV crews coming through her restaurant, but she remembered me, probably due to my unusual circumstances — how often does a TV crew include a grieving widow driving around the country in an RV? “Are you doing better?” she asked. The tenderness of her question made me tear up. (It doesn’t take much!) “We got your thank you note,” she said. “I showed it to my mom. It was so nice of you. We never get thank you notes.” (My dad taught me about eating dessert first; my mom taught me to send thank you notes.)
I explained that I was buying a banana cream pie for my dad’s birthday — “as a paying customer,” I insisted. But Sunny insisted back, “No, please, take it.” She handed me the pie box, adding, “And tell your dad we wish him a Happy Birthday.” Her kindness and generosity made me feel like it was my birthday.
The banana cream pie from Apple Pan was as delicious as ever. And not only did we have plenty of room for a big, fat steak dinner, we had room for more dessert. 