Pie contest resulted in a sugar high

The phone call came out of the blue. The lady on the other end of the line introduced herself as Helen of the Fort Recovery Jubilee Committee. She wanted somebody to help judge a pie baking contest and was hoping to get Diana Doe ... Duh ... Del ... uh . . .

I said, "Dolecki. That's me!" Of course I said yes then thought to ask what I would be expected to do. "Eat pie," was the answer.

I am not that fond of pie but I was on top of the world for having been asked. I felt like Sally Field when she so famously declared, "You like me. You really like me!" It was an ego rush beyond belief. I expected to come crashing down at any given moment and am still waiting for the universe to knock me back into my place.

In the dark recesses of my mind I am still the kid in elementary school that one isn't supposed to play with. I am the child who tried her best to disappear. That sense of worthlessness is usually suppressed but it is there nevertheless. So being wanted is unexpected and intoxicating.

I am prone to getting lost and left the house early for my assignment. I was proud of myself for passing the entrance to the event only once. I did manage to wander the grounds for about a half an hour before an old friend pointed to the correct tent in the park.

Pies of every kind began appearing on the table that had been set up. I had skipped supper and was getting hungry. Each and every pie was beautiful and looked as if it belonged on a magazine cover.

I met my fellow judges: a well-dressed lady who works at a radio station and a young reporter from another newspaper. We agreed upon a scoring system of rating each pie on a scale of one to 10 and averaging the results.

The tasting began with Helen offering us tiny bites of lemon meringue pie. Delicious. I wished she had offered us a bigger bite. The other newspaper person and I whispered our ratings to the radio lady who recorded them on her notepad.

There wasn't a bad pie in the bunch. I revised my opinion of pie. These offerings were the best desserts I had ever had. I tasted sugar cream pie for the first time. Now I know why it was my grandmother's favorite.

Whenever she made pie she always made a sugar cream pie plus something else; black raspberry, apple, whatever. I always chose the alternate pie because the sugar cream looked nasty. Now I know I made the wrong choice.

I also tasted my husband's favorite pie for the first time. Again I had never had pecan pie because there was always a better choice and the pecan looked unappetizing to me. While I don't like it as much as some, it is clear why my husband always chose it over any other.

We tasted 15 pies in all. By the end we were all stuffed and on a major sugar high. I thought the coconut cream was the best of the bunch. It was light and creamy; the coconut on top was like confetti. So when a different pie was announced as the winner I was surprised. Apparently my fellow judges didn't agree with my choice and outvoted me.

I didn't stay for the pie auction that followed the judging although I did pick up a couple of children's books from an adjoining table.

I ran into another old friend and told her I had the greatest job in the world - people fed me pie and I didn't have to pay for it. Is this a great country or what?

I was still flying when I got home. My husband had to get up early the next morning to deliver papers so I went across the street and babbled to a neighbor until I calmed down a little.

I am still surprised that they asked me to be a judge but I really hope they let me do it again next year. Maybe I'll actually like the winning pie best next time.[[In-content Ad]]