how quickly we unravel

I found a little bit of fall this week and it made me smile.  Fall is my favorite season and September is one of my favorite months.  It's in the top three and I can never really decide on a favorite, so I just keep it at a three way tie.  And usually just end up calling whichever month it currently is "my favorite". 

But this post is not really about fall, or months, or nature, for that matter.  It's actually about this quote:

     "They say that every society is only three meals away from revolution. Deprive a culture of food  for three meals, and you'll have an anarchy. And it's true, isn't it? You haven't eaten for a couple of days, and you've turned into a barbarian."

There are mixed opinions on who first said these words, but Steve has mentioned this quote to me on several occasions.  And I never really gave it much thought, except to think, "Really?  Three meals?  I would like to think that I am civilized enough that it would take more than missing three meals to turn me into a barbarian."

But then last week our car died.  It's a very old car and no one can really blame it for dying, but it put us in a little bit of a bind. 

Not wanting to be a spoiled American who needs my own car, I was a little excited about the idea of sharing a car for a while. 

Three days in, this was our conversation over dinner:

L: I almost didn't have time to do the grocery shopping today.  I had so many other errands to run and appointments that I needed to get done today while I had the car, that I just didn't think I would fit it all in.  I considered walking to Food Lion tomorrow, while you have the car, and getting groceries there, but I wasn't sure how to get them all home.  If only we had a wagon or something. 

S: Or a wheelbarrow.  Maybe you could borrow a wheelbarrow.

L: Maybe.  I finally decided that I would just ask the store manager, real nicely, if I could please walk home with one of the shopping carts if I promised to bring it back soon. 

S: Good idea.  I was afraid you'd be running behind today and not be at the train station to pick me up on time, so I started looking around for a good place to nap while I waited for you. 

So here I've been, patting myself on the back for being so civilized, when in reality we are only ever three days away from stealing grocery carts and sleeping at the train station.  Pretty humbling. 

I think we are finding our new groove now though and I almost rather like the fact that there are days when I can't leave the house.  Except maybe to walk to Food Lion. 

Today I am doing some much-needed sewing and being thankful that I can get fabric delivered right to my front door.