Lemon Pie And Other Reflections

My ex wife has a robust lemon tree in her back yard, and today she gave me more lemons that I know what to do with. They are beautiful and big ones, a local strain that is tasty because it isn't as bitter as others. I made a lemon pie this morning with some of them. The recipe I use for my lemon pies comes form my grandmother (on my mother's side). She was the Irish part of a mostly German heritage I have and gave me a carefree approach to life that am so grateful I adopted.
This grandma was my favorite one because she liked me best., whereas the other grandma, a rather cold German type, was more distant and did not care for me (she liked my brother best) as much as she might have if she had tried. But when she was old and feeble and dying, she once told me she was sorry and thanked me for being the grandchild who was the loyal and affectionate one. It was a startling thing for my rigid grandmother to admit and it was a joyful moment for me in hearing it. We all like to hear we are appreciated and loved because "showing it" isn't enough in itself.
Both grandmas were good cooks, the German grandma was highly skilled in every way. She would make every meal a memorable one and make the diner wonder just what it was she did to the food she prepared to make it taste so heavenly.. She was truly a wizard in the kitchen, having learned to cook on a plantation in Mississippi that her parents owned when she was a child. I got quite a bit of inspiration to try cooking from her skill and joy in the same, and she always let me participate in the preparation of the food when I was at her home.
My maternal grandma (the one who supplied the lemon pie recipe I am jabbering about now) was the fun one, laid back and good humored. Often as a child, I spent the night at her home. She never lost the Irish touch as she frequently spouted those clever and witty Irish homilies. And she was the best baker in the family, with many old Irish baking recipes. The Irish are among the world's best at baking and some think the worst at cooking anything else. I don't know why. But it may have to do with the addiction to sweets that most Irish have. They seem almost indifferent to the main course, their eyes wandering to dessert before the main mail has even been finished.
I would sometimes bake with that grandma. She made the best ice box cookies in the world from a century old Irish recipe. I have that recipe but have never made it myself. Strange...I should do that and more of them with Jane before I pass into the sky above or the pits of damnation below. (Hehe I guess you are betting it will be below). A heritage is worthless if not passed on to kids. Cooking family recipes from the past is both a good way for a person to keep faith and in touch with loved ones who are deceased, but also a way to introduce children to the family from which they came. It's amazing how in personality we so resemble some of our ancestors.
When cooking those recipes with kids, inevitably we make sure that they hear our stories about the people who created or were the first family members to cook the foods we still create from their past. Uh....you and I didn't cook that pie together but even you are getting a small taste of the background of my Irish grandma (Melissa Ryan). I both liked and loved her and she taught me to never stress or worry too much about the vagaries of life. Her humor and laid back manner as far more attractive to me than the stern and serious paternal grandma.
I'll give most of the lemon pie to Jane's mom and husband, but Jane and I will eat a piece. And you can be sure eating it will remind me of her and open my big mouth even wider, not just to toast my grandma with a bite of her lemon pie, but also with a story or two about her to Jane. I do hope Jane will listen.