Lessons from Waitress - One Pie at a Time

Sometimes life is hurtful and doesn’t make sense. Sometimes it takes something you thought was beautiful and crumples it before your eyes. Sometimes it takes everything you knew to be true and turns it upside down so you’re left feeling lost and alone in someplace unfamiliar. And when that happens, as it inevitably does to each of us, there’s no word, no prayer, no hug that can entirely take away the ache and the sting of what has been inflicted.

There’s a movie called Waitress that was released about five years ago starring Keri Russell. The character she plays, Jenna, lives unhappily in a loveless marriage and winds up pregnant with a baby she does not want. She spends her days working in a diner making pies. And it’s through her pies that she processes her anger, her sadness and her fear of being trapped - all with the undeniable sparkle of a woman who has fought for something her whole life and who won’t stop now. When she finds herself at a dead end, she makes a pie and pours her uncertainty into the flakey crust and the decadent filling. As the movie progresses it becomes a sort of love story between Jenna and the baby living inside of her, and it’s her pies and her letters that allow her to express those feelings.

That idea has always resonated with me. There are so many times that I’ve felt lost, and in those moments I often find that the best way I can express my heart is through a pie. Through cutting the butter into the flour to make the crust. Through using the muscles in my arms to roll that crust into a sheet that lines my pie tin. Through mixing up a bowl of fruit with sugar, cinnamon and other spices into a fragrant melody that will bake into a warm, gooey filling. In those moments I accept that I can’t fix everything in my life, and instead give myself permission to channel my uncertainties into a pie that will bring a comforting and delicious moment to me and those that I love.

I’ve never been able to use recipes to make my pies; as silly as it sounds, my hands do the work and my instincts know when my pie is ready to bake. I think that life is the same way. Sometimes there isn't a road map that leads to where we need to go. All we can do is stare with wide eyes at the unfamiliar landscape around us, take a breath, and trust ourselves to take a step in a new direction.