As word spread early last week that our area was expecting a major snowstorm, grocery stores got busy. When I visited Kroger on Tuesday – four days before Jonas was expected to arrive – the shelves were already getting scanty.

 

Or so I thought.

 

But then again, my list contained specific items such as chopped mixed salad greens, petit diced tomatoes – with garlic and basil – and light creamed cheese. The grocery chain may have been out of Cap’n Crunch with Berries or Honeycrisp apples, but there were plenty of alternatives.

 

It didn’t dawn on me how picky we as a society have become until I chatted with an elderly friend after the snowstorm had hit. I know by some standards, I’m considered a member of the older generation, so I’ll clarify that the lady with whom I shared this conversation was in her late 80s. She was just a little girl living in rural Lewis County during the Great Depression. Most of what wound up on the dinner plate was raised on the farm. And if she was fortunate enough to have a full dinner plate, she – like others living during that time period - ate everything on it and were thankful for it.

 

She told me how she looked forward during that time to visiting her grandparents in Doddridge County. They lived way out there in what she said she would now consider a shack. Their parents had to park their vehicle on the main road, then walk via utility right of ways to the house. They got their water from a pitcher pump and stored their perishables in the cool spring. There was no refrigerator. There was no trampoline or basketball hoop. It was just Grandma and Grandpa’s and a place she and her older brothers loved to be.

 

As I was inventorying my grocery supply and ensuring I had everything I needed to make my family’s favorite dinners, my friend was feeling very prepared with a few very basic staples in her cabinets. She had plenty to eat, even if she was snowed in for several days, she said.

 

The older I get the more I get it: Happiness is not about getting all you want, but rather wanting all you have. And if that means being totally content eating peanut butter sandwiches rather than feeling a little unsatisfied because the lasagna was made with cottage cheese rather than ricotta cheese, then I’m in. And I’m thankful for lessons learned each and every day. 

 

Julie Perine can be reached at 304-848-7200, julie@connect-bridgeport.com or follow @JuliePerine on Twitter!

More "It's Happening" HERE.