Thread:

Today was grocery pickup day. I’ve waited 7 days for it, and they were out of eggs. It’s ok. I’ve been saving egg cartons, and I was able to get new eggs locally (perks to living in a small city). I keep telling myself that inconveniences aren’t the end of the world.

As I find myself pushing down aggravation, my mind keeps turning to my grandparents. My grandparents - on both sides - were born before the Great Depression. My dad’s parents were born in 1911 and 1914. My mom’s parents were born in 1927 and 1928.

They all had very different Depression experiences. My paternal grandfather, for instance, lived in a tar paper shack made from beer crates. My mom’s parents lived their lives saving everything. I remember saving candy wrapper foil at their house when I was a kid - just in case.

My grandparents were the kind of people that had a huge garden so they could trade veggies for honey, volunteered their time, and loved people in a big way. When I was cleaning their house out, I threw away the candy wrapper foil from my childhood.

I threw away magazines from the 1970s to the present. I threw away elastic that had been cut from worn out underwear that had been saved- just in case. The last couple of weeks, I’ve been thinking a lot about what they saved - especially that old underwear elastic.

They kept everything because someone might need it someday. It’s weird to think about, as I’ve started keeping empty egg cartons in case I need to refill them, the environment (the Great Depression) that began shaping my grandparents into the people that they were.

I wonder how many of us are going to be changed by this coronavirus experience in the way our parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents were shaped by the Great Depression. It’s hard to see the lasting impact because we aren’t finished with it yet.

My grandparents were always trying to set stuff back (so, so much stuff) just in case there was ever a time in the future when people might have a need. We can only control what we can control.

So, here’s what I know for sure: I’m going to keep collecting my empty egg cartons in case they’re needed by me or someone else, I’m going to keep tending the big garden I planted with the same veggies my grandparents used to plant and hope it grows so I can share this harvest,

and I’m going to follow my grandparents example and try to help my neighbors whenever I can.