Pie Served Here

Last night, we watched the movie Waitress, about a small town, pie-making waitress who becomes unexpectedly pregnant by her awful husband and how she transcends her unhappy state. Once you realize it isn't a romantic comedy of the usual kind, you know she won't end up with the OB with whom she begins an affair. Indeed, looking back, it was patently predictable, from the death of her grumpy beneficiary to her declared independence from men (both husband and lover) on the birth of her daughter. The only unexpected thing was her anti-pregnancy, anti-motherhood stance which was a breath of fresh air in an otherwise mother-obsessed popular culture. Now, as many of you know, I had a difficult and relatively miserable, though entirely wanted, pregnancy. I was very glad when the babies were born, if only because I was so relieved not to be pregnant anymore. Those first 3-6 months of twins were very hard and I'm sure we seemed like grumpy moms. Even though our situation was different than the waitress's, it was refreshing to see something besides angelic, beatific pregnancy and dreamy, romanticized thoughts of motherhood. But this movie is a fairy tale (I'm not being sarcastic, I'm talking genre)--with the heroine held captive by a evil man and difficult circumstances and, in the end, despite all her protestations, she saves herself, through motherhood.

I loved the pie! I liked her creativity with pies, from ingredients to titles ("Bad Baby Pie" or "Naughty Pumpkin Pie" or "I Hate My Husband Pie"; her devotion to pies, an art passed down by her mother; her love of pie, and dreams to win a contest and open a pie shop. It reminded me of a more cheerful celebration of pies, Humble Pie, a great treatment of an author's devotion to pie and its role in community. Both the book and the movie made me want to bake pie. Now, I make a decent apple pie, pecan pie, and berry (either blue or mixed) pie, but with storebought crust. Which, in my heart, I feel is cheating. I would love to perfect my own crust. And then make my own fillings. Perhaps even with great titles, like "It Was Raining Today Pie" or "We Were Out of Ice Cream Pie." I think it would be such fun. Especially, if like the last scene of the movie, I made them with my kiddos, sharing the love and joy.

Maybe motherhood saved me too.

"Baby don't you cry,
gonna make a pie,
gonna make a pie with a heart in the middle.
Baby don't be blue,
gonna make for you,
gonna make a pie with a heart in the middle.
Gonna make a pie from heaven above,
gonna be filled with strawberry love.
Baby don't you cry,
gonna make a pie,
and hold you forever in the middle of my heart. "

--Adrienne Shelly (who acted in, wrote, and directed the film and was murdered before it was released, I think)