Chained Memories

I grabbed a half dozen squares of saltine crackers to munch for lunch yesterday. I like saltines. I don’t love them, but for an occasional bland snack they will do. It reminded me suddenly of my grandma. Born in 1909 on a farm where her daddy still plowed with a horse, her life experience was far different from mine.  She was only twenty when the Great Depression wracked the economy in ways most of us alive can only imagine. She never complained, but I know life was hard. Hard in ways today’s poor me, give me stuff, I deserve it, could never understand. No one was giving her free or reduced anything.

One of my grandmother’s favorite snacks in the evening was crumbled saltine crackers in a glass of milk. I know. I’ve never tried it either. But imagine a life where store bought crackers and milk was a treat. I remember stopping by of an evening to visit and she would just be sitting down to this mushy concoction. She always offered to make me me a glass. I always politely declined. 

Last evening we stopped by the grocery to grab something for dinner today. We always like to have a nice dinner on Sunday. I voted for beef and noodles. The wife wanted a chuck roast. Yes, thought I, a roast sounds good. We stopped by the grocery. The meat shelves were pretty much bare, except a few rolls of hamburger and some chicken parts.  I thought that strange. Maybe the days’ meat delivery didn’t show. 

We bought a few canned goods and some juice for the granddaughter and motored down the highway to a big box grocery. Their meat selection was even more decimated. I was becoming concerned. I started a mental inventory of the meat out in the garage freezer. I decided I had the stuff to make lasagna in a pinch. I drove across the street to WalMart. This time the wife said to just let her out and she would see what was available. 

She came out with a pack of stew beef. I guess we are having beef and noodles after all. She said the meat shelves were bare, so were the frozen food freezers. Produce was scarce. One store, OK. Two maybe. Three, we have a problem. 

Are we heading for shortages and scarcity we haven’t seen in this country for a century? Is it a coincidence that planned meatless days and breadlines always seem to accompany leftist economic policies? I hope this was just a supply chain glitch. I don’t think I can develop a taste for crackers crumbled in milk.