"Chocolate Cream Pie"

No ... I'm not giving you a recipe for chocolate cream pie. Rather, I'm going to relate a cute and humorous story about a long-time church friend, who just went home this past Thursday.

First, though, I'm still in a bit of shock ... I guess we never know what's in God's plan for us. He must have decided that Noel (pron. Noelle) had suffered enough disappointments and illnesses in her time here on this earth so, now, it was time for her to take the journey home to be with Him. I guess her heart just couldn't take one more beat. I know she is happier, now, that she is safe at home with all her loved ones who had gone on before her. Meanwhile, she will be missed by her husband and their cute little white Maltese dog, who they affectionately called Chrissy!

So, you might wonder why I would want to remember Noel with this story. It's because whenever I hear about or see a chocolate cream pie, this thought immediately comes to mind and I have to[smile] because it makes me happy and, quite honestly, this is way I choose to remember her!

Noel's husband and mine both belonged to one of the church committees and a meeting was taking place on this particular evening. So, she decided that it would be a good idea if we had dinner together at their home. We enjoyed a nice dinner and told the men to go off to their meeting and they could have dessert when they returned home. Meanwhile, Noel said that she was going to make a Chocolate Cream Pie, refrigerate it, and by the time the "guys" come back, the pie will be well-chilled and ready. While Noel prepared the pie, I played with the dog!

The men called to let us know they were on their way home. Good timing. We had just finished making the coffee and got out the whipped cream to put on top of the Chocolate Cream Pie. The car pulls up to the house, little Chrissy runs to greet them, they come in, Noel gets out the cups and pie server and tells her hubby to do the honors by cutting the pie. Our mouths are watering and we can't wait to try it.

Dennis begins to cut the pie ... but, wait a minute ... what ever seems to be the problem? He remarks that the pie is a little tough to cut. TOUGH? He further remarks, "Noel, what did you put in this pie -- leather?" She looks at him and tells him to give HER the pie server and she'll cut it. "Hmmm! I don't understand it," says she, "It seemed to be okay when I made it." I offered to give a hand but wasn't sure if I could do any better. I started cutting and then noticed something under the pudding -- "What's this?" says I, "Oh, no! Noel, look!" We saw what the problem was and now we knew the reason why it was so difficult to cut this pie. All of a sudden, we burst out laughing!

Of course, our men looked at each other and asked us, "WHAT's so funny??!!!" We explained the situation ... you see, Noel started with a store-bought graham cracker crumb crust. Inside the crust is a plastic form, which keeps the crust in tact. Inside the plastic form, is an instructional paper, which explains how to use the crumb crust. Yes, Noel removed the plastic form; however, and for whatever reason, she replaced the piece of paper and then poured the chocolate pie filling on top -- NEVER noticing the paper -- and put in the refrigerator to chill.

[My hubby Roy remarked something about paper and fiber!!]

We ended up eating the pie, which was delicious -- minus the paper, of course! I know this may be a little hard to believe, but it's a true story, and that was "our Noel!"