Death, Life and Piecaken

On October 26 I received a text message from my husband while I was at work asking me to call him. Now, I don’t know if it is true for everyone, but certainly for me if Seth asks me to call him while I am at work something is wrong. So, I walked off the floor and called him not knowing what to expect. Seth’s Aunt Margie had passed away suddenly, and his mom had just called him to let him know. We were all in shock. Seth’s Grandma has been sick and is also dealing with dementia so honestly all of us, including my mother-in-law, thought the call was about her. Margie has not been the epitome of health in recent years, but we had no idea it had gotten so bad. She had a really scary medical issue about 10 years ago where she got pneumonia which converted to a lung infection that almost killed her, but against all odds she recovered with medical issues that were minor compared to what they could have been. She was so strong through everything and maintained her amazing spirit. She will be greatly missed.

Friday we headed to Springfield for her funeral. On the way I received a text message from my sister-in-law Niki that said:

Moira, my oldest nibling, is very goth which they get honestly because both their mother and myself were/are goth. (I am not always in black anymore but I have heavy goth leaning tendencies.) When the family finally arrived to the funeral home Moira had red eyeshadow with heavy black eyeliner, a black line across their nose and black lipstick. Apparently, this was the pared down version as the original makeup included spider webs, and witchy sigils. Moira was insistent that their parents were ashamed of them, etc. Niki was insisting honestly that she loved the makeup Moira had done, but it has a time and place and a funeral is not the time or place. I agreed with Niki, and told Moira they looked amazing in the pared down version. Honestly several family members complimented their makeup. I love that kid so much. They are an amazing artist in many ways including makeup.

A couple of weeks ago we were hanging out with Chris and Niki, and they asked Seth and I if we would be the legal guardians of the niblings if anything happened to them. We of course said yes. I love those kids like they were my own.

After the funeral we went home to feed the pets and then went over to Chris and Niki’s to wind down and play some D&D. We are playing and laughing and began to discuss Thanksgiving plans. I explain that my Mom decided that since we are walking 5 miles in the morning that can be our family get together so we are open that day. Niki says they can host for that side of the family then, and I laugh and say that I am going to buy this hundred dollar dessert I saw online for the day because it keeps coming up and I am curious. They laugh and ask what I am talking about. So I share with them…The Piecaken.

What is a Piecaken you ask? It is a pecan pie topped by a pumpkin pie topped by a spice cake topped by apple pie filling and all of it held together with a cinnamon buttercream. It is the brainchild of Pastry Chef Zac Young and is a fever dream of a dessert and you can order one to your home for $99 through Goldbelly.

Niki immediately says she will pay for half if we want to do this thing. I laugh and go to the site where
I realize that if you sign up for their news letter you can get an immediate $20 off. I do it and pretty soon we have ordered our very own insane ostentatious dessert to be delivered to Chris and Niki’s later this week to wait in a freezer to be premiered on Thanksgiving day. I am not at all sure about this, but I feel like it is going to be fun no matter what. I will let you know if it is worth the eighty dollars.

Tell your friends and family that you love them. Do things that make you happy including wearing all the makeup. And eat the dessert. Life is short, do the things.