Pie and Sisterhood by Katy

I’m a traditionalist.  And a rule-follower.  I don’t rock the boat. 

Thanksgiving is a perfect example.  Pie.  I’m not a big fan of pumpkin pie.  I like mincemeat even less (Though after five Christmases in England I learned to enjoy one of those mini, powdered sugar-covered mincemeat tarts each season.  Just one.)  And those were the two pies we had at Thanksgiving every year.  For decades.  Because tradition and holidays are like, well, Thanksgiving and pumpkin pie.

Until four years ago.  I went to my sister’s house across the country instead of the traditional friends-and-family California dinner.  And she made a decadent chocolate brownie pecan pie.  And changed everything.

Martha is a writer, too.  She has published several novels for adults and written two for young adults.  Her protagonists are clever, funny, and have an attitude I wish I could adopt in real life.  They break the rules.  They don’t settle for the wrong kind of pie.

Martha is also always my first reader.  She even read the embarrassingly long and painfully dull first draft of my travel memoir which (thankfully) never went any further and has since been relegated to the dust and spiders in my garage.  She is gentle and supportive, but doesn’t let me get away with weak plot development or half-baked suspense.  She’s a master at making things worse for my characters.  “What if you do this?” she asks.  And I groan.  My characters hate her.  I love her.

I have much to be thankful for on this day dedicated to gratitude.  I have had an amazing year.  I have a wonderful family.  Enough to eat.  A roof over my head.  A job that I love.  I have hope for the things I cannot change.

But today, because she is far away on a day that is meant to be for family, I am thankful for my sister. 

And chocolate pecan pie.  A new tradition.