Lemon meringue pie

Each weekend, one person in our family gets what we call a “special day.” With a household of four, all with different favorite foods and preferred activities, there came a point where we could never agree on how to spend our family weekend time. Some wanted to hike while others wanted to bowl, or one person wanted to grill burgers when another wanted homemade pizza.

The special day began as a way for us to narrow those options down. If it’s our son’s special day, he gets to choose a meal menu (brunch or dinner), a dessert, and if he wants, a family activity.

All four of us go all in. We allow no griping, even if one of us doesn’t like the selected menu or the chosen activity. Instead, we celebrate the special person with food and fun, or at a minimum, by letting them have the day to just do what they want — write blog posts, read a book all day, disappear in the garage — without having to do a bunch of work or chores.

You’d think I’d love my special day best because I get to choose what we eat and what we do. I do love my day for reading and writing blog posts, and especially on nice days when I want to hike with everyone. But when it comes to the food, I love my husband’s special day best. While our son always chooses homemade cheeseburgers, or my daughter and I choose ordinary meals we eat all the time, like grilled fish with salad, my husband always comes up with something new and exciting. He usually selects a vibrant and seasonal dinner, along with a dessert that gets our daughter and me baking together. He’s good at getting us out of food ruts.

Sunday was his special day. It was a sunny spring day, with a bright blue sky and a high, strong sun. For dinner he chose blackened fish tacos with a jicama slaw and and avocado crema. And for dessert? Lemon meringue pie.

Our daughter loves to bake, and he keeps her in practice. She and I spent the morning rolling crust, simmering lemon filling, beating egg whites, and researching what constitutes a stiff peak. The result was lovely: pure white meringue with golden tips, smooth lemon custard, and flaky golden pastry.

My special day is next weekend. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to top this.

For the month of April, I will publish a 10-minute free write each day, initiated by a prompt from my prompt box. Minimal editing. No story. Just thoughts spilling onto the page. Trying to get back into the writing habit.