Estates, Dates & Apple Pie
Did y’all take a good look at that pie? In case you missed it, I added a picture below, just in case, because guess what? I baked that pie. WHAT. I can’t even believe it. That is a LOVELY pie. That is no store-bought pie, and it is not a stock photo. That is a homemade WORK OF ART. Ugh, I am so proud of it. Anyway, carry on, just wanted to throw it out there, that I can bake a pretty pie.
I like to bake. I really do, but I don’t do it that often. Why? Well, because I can’t afford to buy larger clothes every few months, that’s why. To be completely honest, my financial status makes up about 75% of my motivation to be healthy and work out. I’m too poor to support fluctuating weight, so I gotta stay on top of it. Anyway, I like to bake, but I usually stick to cookies and cakes (because they’re my favorites) and I have never, in my life, baked a pie. However, for those of you who read The Seasonal Shake-Up (for those of you who didn’t, it’s my first post, so check it out), I am happy to report that I have been checking off things on my Happiness list and having a blast doing it. I usually bake something of the pumpkin variety in the fall, but I wanted to change it up, so I put down “Bake an Apple Pie”, on my Happiness list. I mean, what tastes more like fall than a warm, apple dessert? Basically nothing, that’s what. I had no idea how I was going to go about baking this apple pie, but I assumed that Google and I would figure it out together at some point.
Last week, my grandmother called me up and asked if I was available to spend some time together this week. Usually, we will grab lunch and chat, but this time, I wanted to do something fun together. I would rather have the experience and memory of my grandmother teaching me how to bake an apple pie, than just have lunch. My grandmother is also a wonderful baker. She makes AMAZING desserts, so I knew that having her tips and tricks would be much more beneficial than a recipe online. Of course, she agreed, and we spent a lovely afternoon baking an apple pie together, and we even had some lunch while the pie was in the oven. She made that baking experience way more enjoyable, just because she was there. Also, because of her, the pie turned out so much better than I expected, and it was a day that I will cherish forever.
I don’t know if any of you have read The 5 Love Languages, or if you know what your love language is, but mine is Quality Time. Having a family dinner without phones means more to me than a nice gift, and “coffee time” with my husband, where we spend a lazy morning together talking, having coffee and doing devotions is absolutely priceless. I think quality time means so much to me because when we lose a loved one, we don’t wish we spent more on their Christmas gift, we wish we had stopped by more often, or called to say we love them more. If I’m being honest, I’m in pursuit of “high-quality time”. I want to make the most of every moment I’m given.
My piano teacher passed away two days before Sarah’s wedding. I took piano lessons for 12 years, and we stayed close with her after I stopped taking lessons. We knew at the beginning of this year, that she didn’t have much time left. She had diabetes, and she had gone into renal failure and received a kidney transplant 17 years ago. That’s a really long time to live with a transplant, so we are grateful for all that time she gained. Her house was 2 miles from the house my husband and I bought, so we would go for runs to her house and back. I would always check to see if she was home, and if she was, I (or we) would stop by. It’s not convenient to take a break in the middle of a run, because cardio, but how much does that really matter when it could be the last visit? Miss Cindy didn’t care how sweaty or disgusting we were, and she was always happy to see us, and our pup, even when she was panting up a storm. Two months ago, I called her up and asked her if she would help me with an arrangement for my church worship team. She gladly accepted and I went over and spent half an hour playing and singing with her one last time.
I am so glad I took the opportunity to see her and make the most of the time I had. Even if it’s slightly inconvenient, or doesn’t fit perfectly into my schedule, it’s important to make the time count. I thrive on good, quality time with those I love, and because of that, I have started working on being extra intentional about the time I spend with others. This past weekend, my husband and I went on a date for the first time in what feels like forever. We’ve been super busy this year with our wedding and then my sister’s wedding, and we finally have time for us again. I don’t care that we’re already married; I never want to stop dating my husband. He is the bee’s knees, and my favorite person to adventure with. Let me tell you, it was one of the best dates ever. It was a beautiful, sunny, 63 degree day, and of course I got a pumpkin spice latte (and a pumpkin cream cold brew for him), because its October and y’all already know how I feel about fall. We’re nerds, so we went to Alfred I. DuPont’s estate in Wilmington, and we had a blast touring the mansion and the grounds (FYI- it’s a gorgeous place to check out, and it’s right here in Delaware, if you’re local). We had so much fun exploring the mansion and making up captions for the giant portraits, as if they were Instagram posts. It’s dumb, but we thought it was hilarious. I love spending days like that, just hanging out with my best friend, seeing cool stuff. Dates are so much fun, and they remind me of why I like him so much. I never want to “forget” why he’s the best guy for me, so we are making dates a priority, and having date night as often as we can.
I for one, absolutely get swept up in the busyness of everyday life, but seriously, I need to take myself less seriously. I CONSTANTLY think I have a million things to do and that the world will fall apart if I don’t do all of them RIGHT NOW. Guess what? It won’t. I made a Happiness list for a reason: Slow down and enjoy the little things. So I looked at my Happiness list, and said to myself, “Okay Self, who can I do this one with?” and I did it. And it was one of the best decisions I’ve made since starting this Happiness List. Or, if it’s something you think you would enjoy most by yourself, do that! It’s so refreshing to have some time for just you. I’ve started getting up earlier so that I can sit and have my coffee in the quiet and start my day intentionally. I only have so much time, so I want to make it count.
So go carve out some time. Plan a date night with your spouse or significant other, and make it a fun date, where you actually engage the other person in conversation, not where you go sit next to them in a movie theater. Go have coffee with a parent or sibling, and catch up. An hour of chatting will fill your cup so much more than scrolling for an hour on Instagram. Don’t just spend time with someone, make a point to spend some “high-quality time” with them.
Or, if you’re anything like me, ask your mom to come with you to get pumpkin spice lattes and walk around town. Because Gilmore Girls is plural, and Rory was always happier when her mom was with her.
P.S. That’s next on my list!
“Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” James 4:14
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.” Ecclesiastes 3:11-12