During the early months of 2020, as much of the world went into COVID shut down, our family – like many others – cancelled group birthday celebrations, family visits, and extended family holiday gatherings. We replaced these gatherings with a weekly Zoom call, connecting with each other over the internet via video chat. Over time our group shrunk to my four siblings and me, although we do get an occasional visit from one of our kids if there is significant news to share.
On the surface, or to that occasional visitor, our calls might seem rather mundane or hum drum. And to be honest, we probably talk too much about the weather, our ailments, and the medical procedures to fix said ailments. I sometimes compare it to a soap opera – if you’re tuning in every week, it might seem like not much is going on, but you’re not going to want to miss an episode, because about the time you do, you might miss out on a job change, a relationship announcement, or an update about a fun vacation.
We discuss world events but avoid politics, share childhood memories, and debate the best candy Brach’s ever made. My brother introduced us to The Hidden Brain podcast and we’ve all listened to an episode or a few – its quite interesting, and I encourage anyone to check it out. We share pictures of flowers we’re growing in our garden, scrub plants we’re trying to eradicate, updates about our pets, movies and TV shows we’re watching and so much more.
Last Sunday evening, we talked about one brother’s vacation, my other brother’s milestone birthday, the He Gets Us campaign (have you seen the ads?), food banks, and the price of groceries. My contribution for the week was about my weekly shopping trip. Although I am aware that inflation is driving up everyone’s grocery bill, I was still floored when the cost of my four bags of groceries and a case of water topped $200. This evolved into a conversation about how our mother used to talk about the price of groceries and I specifically remember a time that she commented how her groceries were ‘now’ $20 a bag and she used to pay $10 a bag.
My mom always tracked what was on sale, clipped coupons, and thrilled to get a deal. Everyone on our call remembered Mom’s price point for toilet paper. She wouldn’t spend more than 25 cents a roll, or $1.00 for a four pack. Do they even sell four packs anymore? Certainly not the four packs like Mom used to buy, which brings me to the mind-boggling topic of toilet paper math.
If 12 = 48, how can it also equal 72? And how much would Mom pay for one of these rolls? If one of today’s rolls is the equivalent of four (or is it six?) does that mean that I should pay a dollar a roll? Or maybe $1.50?
I don’t think we specifically mentioned the cost of eggs, but most of the country seems to be losing their minds over it. Agreed, the price has jumped dramatically, but c’mon people, have a little empathy! Chickens are having their own pandemic at the moment, and although I can understand that $6.00 for a dozen of eggs may seem like a lot, $1.50 for the three eggs I ate for breakfast seems like an economical meal deal to me.
And then what about stamps? If you have totally moved into electronic correspondence and bill paying, you may not have noticed, but the cost of a first class stamp jumped last week from 57 to 60 cents. Our dad was a lifelong philatelist. He started collecting stamps when a stamp to send a letter cost two cents. When he passed away, they cost 22 cents. What might he have to say about this topic? I’ll have to ask my siblings.
We gathered today to celebrate my brother’s birthday. There’s nothing quite like getting together with family, and the pandemic has made me appreciate these moments all the more. But three years after we started our family Zoom calls because we couldn’t get together, I don’t think any of us are ready to give it up. We’ll skip tonight, but I’m already looking forward to next week, when we can rehash memories, hear about my brother’s vacation, and feel the unconditional love of the Best Family Ever.
Once Upon a Willow 