I recall an email I received years ago on the Monday morning following Thanksgiving.  The sender was a principal at a high school in South Jersey.  The email came in around 7:30am and it made me think it was probably one of the first things she did upon returning to the office.

She said it was the first Thanksgiving without the family matriarch's beloved sweet potato pie and that we came highly recommended.  After dinner, everyone sat nervously around the table as the pie was brought out, placed on the dining room table and sliced.  As family members began to take their first bite she noticed people tearing up and crying.  She said they were crying because it the closest they had come to tasting a pie so similar to the one they all grew up on, but could no longer request each Thanksgiving.

I still have this email.  It took me years to be able to share this story without tearing up myself.  Whenever I'm having one of those days, I always go back to this email and realize how important one simple item can be to others.  You see, pie really does bring people together.