I made a lemon meringue pie! It was awesome to make! Doesn't matter that it wasn't perfect because I did it!!!

Why were you inspired to do this?

My grandmother always had home-baking to put out at family events, and her lemon-meringue pie was a bit hit among everyone. Although I had the opportunity to learn some of her recipes while baking with her, this is one that we did not bake together. It's one that I've wanted to try, but seems intimidating, in part because I've never before made meringue. When my father was in town recently, staying with my brothers family, it seemed the perfect time to try it. (I brought chocolate crinkle cookies just in case this didn't turn out.)

What were 3 things you did to make this happen?

A recipe. I have a couple of notebooks in which my grandmother wrote down a lot of her commonly used recipes. I typed them up and sent them out so everyone could have whatever recipes they wanted available to them. Conveniently, I've now got it in electronic form so I don't have to do a thorough paper search.

Ingredients. That's easy enough.

A little bit of guts and a hand mixer. Simultaneously, but not together. I just dived right in, and there is no way I'd have been able to make meringue whisking by hand.

How did you feel once you had accomplished this?

I felt so excited. Even though it had not yet been tasted, the making of it felt like a phenomenal accomplishment. Fortunately, feedback was enthusiastic. I've got specific points upon which to improve, and of course my brother greatly encouraged me to practice making it a lot.