Pi Day 2020: Plan Changes From a Pandemic
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something. I only include links for products and services I love and believe in. Please check out my disclosure policy for more details!Pi Day 2020: It was gonna be my day!
Full disclosure, I had every intent of publishing this blog on time. Heck, early. I had every intent two weeks ago of pushing out content with the frequency I had when I first started this blog, if not more. The beginning of March now seems like such a beautiful, naive period. I created extensive, ambitious content calendars. Damnit, I was going to DO this thing and do it RIGHT!
Then the world caved in.
Then the world caved in. For some of us, it happened sooner than others. For many of us, as I write this, the worst seems yet to come. And unfortunately, for some people who may read this post, there still may be the thought that things can’t be as bad as the media makes things out to be. I mean, come on, we have to be blowing this out of proportion, right?
Every time I thought I’d be done publishing this post, more news would roll in, changing what I wanted to say.
As I revise this draft, we have just received word that our city is going to be in what I’d like to call “lockdown light” before the state has made its official declaration. Every time I feel like I’m going to be productive and get something out that furthers my blog and my “brand,” another change hits and rocks us all to our core. And then doing things like writing a blog to build a brand feels really dumb and hollow.
Pi Day is my favorite holiday. And no, it’s not just because I love to bake.
Pi Day is my favorite day of the year. Anyone who is close to me knows that about me. I haven’t told everyone why it is my favorite day of the year, because the meaning of the day for me is one that is deeply personal, believe it or not (maybe I’ll detail it in a book one day, or a longer blog…). I’ll say for now, that outside of being a lover of math and baking, I formed some bonds and made some memories on one Pi Day that I’ll never forget. I even got a tattoo to commemorate the holiday.
But in all seriousness, I do have a ton of pie recipes.
Because of my love for Pi Day, I try to make it special every year, mostly by eating as many pie-related items as possible, and working on memorizing some digits. If you look back on my blog, you’ll see recipes for vegan butternut squash pie, apple pie, cherry pie filling, vegan pumpkin cream cheese chocolate pie, and mini cherry pies, to name a few. Clearly, I love pie! And I feel great making something for a holiday I cherish and sharing it with everyone.
Pi Day 2020 + A Special Diet = A delicious challenge!
This year, I was extra excited for Pi Day, because it presented a challenge. I was recently diagnosed with SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth), and I’ve been working on a lot of posts about the special diets I’ve been on and the things I’ve been trying the past few months to keep it under control. So, I was really looking forward to making a SIBO-friendly pie for the holiday. Plus, I was planning a gluten-free pizza to make for dinner. I found some inspiration online and was excited to hit the store.
Enter the panic buying.
Except, when I wanted to hit the store, so did everyone else. I was about to buy pie ingredients on the first full week of panic buying. Stores ran out of toilet paper. I couldn’t get into the one grocery store in town that sold prepared foods that worked on my new, limited diet. Like, literally, I couldn’t ‘get in. They shut the store down.
I’m not sure if I’m determined or stubborn, but it’s probably a little of both.
Desperate to retain normalcy, I still thought about making the pie on Saturday by picking up supplies at a grocery co-op close to home. But by the time Saturday rolled around, and the news kept getting worse and worse, and it seemed like the panic buying wouldn’t subside any time soon, I decided I needed to alter my plans. I was not in the pie-making mood.
When life takes your TP away, buy chocolate silk pie
(is that how that saying goes?)
However, I was determined to not let COVID-19 totally break my spirit. On our grocery trip, I picked up a slice of vegan chocolate silk pie (contained some gluten, but not too much, so it was still pretty close to what I should be eating) and the gluten-free pizza pie crust. The pizza turned out amazing! Well, at least mine did. My boyfriend’s wasn’t rolled quite flat enough, but we were working with a wine bottle after drinking out of it, so…
Pics or it didn’t happen. Except, none of this feels like it’s really happening.
I snapped a few pictures of dinner and dessert, and that was really it for Pi Day. I spent the rest of the weekend thinking about how many things have had to shut down, change, or get postponed in such a short span of time. But I was still happy to have a small joy of a slice of pie and some tasty pizza.
So, what now?
I don’t really know how to end this post. Things are developing so quickly right now that anything I say could seem really dumb by even the end of the week. But I also knew I wanted to get something out to acknowledge the day, and hopefully connect with other people going through the same feelings.
I’m trying to stay busy and keep it together, like everyone else.
I don’t have any neat and tidy feelings about what’s going on. I’m not sure what’s in store for my future, but I know it’s more stable than the futures of so many others in my community, and for that, I consider myself lucky, but very saddened by the thought. The best thing I’ve found to do for myself is just keep busy. I’m writing a lot, crafting a lot, and trying to lend my talents to the people who need them the most. And heck, the new Animal Crossing came out, so you know I played that all last weekend.
If you need my friend code for Animal Crossing, just lemme know. But if you want to keep reading my blog, that’s good, too!
My plan for the blog is to keep writing. Keep pushing through, even when it feels hard, knowing that these posts are going to read pretty weird in the future. Even if I’m capturing a moment in time, and it’s not an “evergreen” type of post, these moments are important, life-changing, and history-making, so I think it’s worth the time to document.
My other plan is to write some more posts that will serve as COVID-19 resources. The next one I’m working on is a master list of free things companies and organizations have provided as a result of the pandemic. If you have things you’d like to see added to the list, please email me at sammi@dairyfreestate.com.
We’re all in this together. Even if we can’t be physically together.
Stay home. Wash your hands. Virtually hug your loved ones. I’ll be there for you, providing, hopefully mostly, escapes. After a couple important posts, of course.
