How To Survive A Blizzard
Hello, Beloveds!
Can I share a silly story with you? Cool!
Once, when my family and I lived in Colorado, we experienced a huge snowstorm, a blizzard really. For days the news told us the storm that was coming would be one to reckon with, so
I went to the grocery store to stock up on supplies. Prudent, right?
Ha. You would think.
(Pssst, here’s where the story gets a little embarrassing.)
Can I tell you what I bought? Magazines. Magazines, some chips, some snacks, some wine, and very little, well, food. I know! I honestly don’t know what I was thinking. I mean, clearly I was NOT thinking, but … let’s move past this, shall we?
Anyway, three days into our lockdown beneath the winter blanket that covered EVERYTHING around us, I actually started getting concerned. Food was low and roads were closed. Sidewalks were closed.
I looked hopefully in my empty cupboards and did my best to quiet my panic, so I called my mom so that she could worry with me too! Soon after, my aunt Micki from Texas called to check up on us. My mom had clearly told her about my useless purchases, so she called me with some encouragement.
“Baby,” she said. “As long as you have flour and fat, you’re gonna be okay.” At the time, it made no sense to me, her advice. In fact, it wasn’t until just this past year (over 15 years later) when she and I were discussing our ancestor Sarah Elizabeth Ross, her grandmother, that the wisdom of her advice revealed itself to me.
My aunt Micki told me about a time when she and her young siblings were hungry and they asked sweet Sarah to make them something to eat.
“All she had was some flour, some grease, and an onion. And don’t you know what? Those were the best dumplings we ever did eat.”
Flour. Fat. Provision.
How is that for ancestral wisdom? I take courage knowing Sarah’s creativity, innovation, and magic lives in me too!
Peace and blessings to you all.
Asé!
