Why It’s Okay to Buy Bread

So we’ve had kind of a nasty winter so far.  The kids have missed umpteen zillion days of school, and there have been umpteen zillion Facebook pics of grocery store shelves being licked clean.  Then there are the umpteen zillion times infinity complaints about all the silly worrywarts that are going out and licking those shelves clean.

The funny thing is, it’s really a natural instinct, and a damn good one to have.  Think about how life was before we had cell phones, Walmart, and pizza delivery.  Settlers on the plains had to prepare when a storm was coming if they wanted to make it to see spring.  Pa better get plenty of firewood chopped and the livestock locked in the barn.  Have you ever read the Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder?  I couldn’t tell you anymore which one it was in, but I distinctly remember a snowstorm so bad they had to tie a rope between the barn and the house so they wouldn’t get lost.

We mock those that rush out to the stores, but who are the parents that know their child will have a peanut butter sandwich and a glass of milk for lunch on a snow day?  And which ones are the parents that will have to say, “Well, crap, little Johnny.  I guess it’s water and saltines for you today, cause I have no survival instinct.”

When I know a winter storm is coming, I prepare a little.  I make sure we have main grocery staples in the house, plenty of firewood is brought in (thanks, Pa), and that there’s gas in my car.  Is that so bad?  It’s natural, normal, and keeps me and my family safe and warm.