When I first met my husband, I teased him about needing to have months’ worth of dried beans and canned meat.  He had a deadly serious conversation with me about his time in the National Guard during a flood crisis in Illinois.  He said he watched an entire town be thrown into crisis due to a lack of food and water.  That experience created a sense of urgency to protect those near and dear to his heart.  He made it clear to me that if we were to continue, I would need to indulge this plan for emergency.  Over time, he and I have become a bit lax on that plan.  We have a spare freezer, and we certainly have lots of meat.   But we don’t have as many beans as we used to.  We definitely don’t have enough toilet paper.  Even during the pandemic heyday, we admittedly scoffed at those who cleaned out Costco of paper goods. 

The last few days’ news caused a conversation this morning that upended that mockery.  If you aren’t already an “end of world planner” I highly recommend you start.  Between train workers threatening to strike and cross-border trucker vaccine mandates about to take effect, the time is now to stock up.