How many people does it take to make a pie?

Brennan, Hudson, and Eric making a pie

You know the joke; how many _____ does it take to screw in a light bulb?  Well, this is kind of like that.  How many people does it take to make a pie?

There is something I have discovered with the time I have been given on this Earth.  Relationships are important.  If you want to develop, foster, and expand those relationships you have to spend time with those people.  To spend time with those people you have to make an effort, and it is always a good idea to have fun.

It turns out there are a million things you can do which will help with this, and none of them require anything other than time and effort.  Time alone isn't enough, although without it the bonds maintaining those associations are weak.  It is kind of like making pies.  You can put flour and shortening side by side.  They can be there for days, weeks, even years, but nothing really happened.  They existed together.  That is it.

Effort is the same idea.  A great effort expressed rarely helps but again does not really cement those bonds of care, love, and respect.  The effort can come in many different forms, all of them valuable, but without time they wither the objective.  Again, like pies, you can put the shortening into the flour and mash it around a bit, but the end result will not win you any blue ribbons.

And so to make that pie you have to have the ingredients (the people), you have to fold them together properly (effort) an you have to do it well enough to make a good end product (time).  You just can't make a decent pie without all this.  Of course, we haven't talked about the filling, the baking, the cooling, and the most important part, the eating.

Making pies is a metaphor for building relationships with people that are important to you.  Who is important to you?  Do you spend time with them?  Do you make an effort to get together and do something memorable?  These things are important.  Of course, you only have so many resources available to you, and things like distance, money, and your responsibilities may limit your ability to contribute to the "pie".  But it doesn't mean you can do nothing.  Who is important to you, and what are you doing about it?

This brings us back to the question, "How many people does it take to make a pie?"  The answer: as many as you can successfully manage.  Pies are important, and fun!