Healing Pies

After my parents’ accident, the pies kept coming: chicken pot pies (individual sized), blueberry pies, ice cream pies, peach cobblers, lemon meringues, pecan pies, pies that were still warm in their tins, apple pies, another chicken pot pie (a big square one), pies with chocolate pudding inside, rhubarb pies, cherry pies, pies with crisscross slats of crust on top. Pies from the church, pies from my mother’s quilting group, pies from the neighbors, pies from the aunts. Pies lined the kitchen counter, pies packed the freezer. Holy pies, pies with pain killer filling, herbal pies, prayer pies, pies that kept vigil, pies brimming with novenas, pies full of secrets that even doctors don’t know, magic spell pies, smooth soothing pies overflowing with the music of rain forests, pies made from circles of light, pies with halos.

From Ka-Ching! (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2009)