Being proactive is something that makes me happy. I think it makes me feel like I have some sort of control in my life, which…as you know, I really don’t have. I am a mom with lots of kids, widowed, a teacher, and basically at the whim of anyone who needs me. Being proactive, preparing in advance….it’s a risk I’m willing to take.

In the past, I have been super prepared. At least I remember it that way. I was big into food storage, I even participated in a monthly shipment of ‘food I’ll need to have someday‘ that I stored under the stairs…in case of emergency. I was also a big home canner. I had jars of anything that would hold still for more than 20 seconds. Beef on sale? I’ll take a flat. Chicken you say? Give me a flock. Cucumbers? I’ll take 2 bushels. I was not afraid of anything and I canned it all! My dining room was a sort of trophy case filled with things I had managed to preserve in jars. It smiled back at me, filling me with a sense of ‘bring it’.

Those were the days.

It’s a good idea to rotate your food storage. Don’t just fill up the jars, cans, mylar bags, etc. and forget about it. No, you need to use it! Use, replace, repeat. I was pretty good at it. Until that fateful day.

Okay, it was more like a fateful decade, but who’s counting? It started with going back to work. I say going ‘back’, but really it was going to work for the first time. I had never had a real career until Brad died. Teaching is more than a career, by the way, it is a complete lifestyle. Think, “the borg”. You basically give up your entire life to taking care of other people’s brains. Understand them, grow them, inspire them, motivate them, entertain them…that’s teaching.

I still canned after I sold my soul to teaching. Canning isn’t that hard, and I found an easy way to do it. What really slowed me down was when my meat company went out of business. Darn them! After that, it just kind of snowballed into frozen pizzas and takeout. I got lazy. It was fine.

And then this stupid C-19 came along. Seriously? Why didn’t it decide it was a good time to come when I had a beautifully diverse and tasty array of food storage? Why now? It’s rude, that’s what it is. I tell ya if I was in charge…

Anyway, it’s not like we’re going to starve. I still have the basics, just not the fluff. No 100 bags of goldfish crackers gotten with layered couponing for $1.77. No flat of peanut butter. No freezer full of baby back ribs (okay, I never had that). No freezer drawer full of chocolate chips ready to be added to cookies.

The good news is that my boys think beans and rice are the bee’s knees. Who knew? They say that if this is the way the end comes, they will be fine. I, on the other hand, may explode. My lo-carb, lo sugar, fresh food diet was the first casualty.

At least if I’m forced to virtual teach from home, PJ day can be every day.

Cause I said so.

Photo credit: http://www.alamy.com