Covid Chronicles. Chapter 106: Saturday visits to Knoche's Meat Market

 

Read chapter 105 here

Photos by Retiring Guy

February 10, 2021

A few weeks ago, I decided it was time to transcribe some of the journal entries I wrote when Andy and Eddie were young. I started with a bound journal I purchased in 1994. From the approach I took, I must have expected this volume to be the inspiration I I needed to make these reflections a daily activity. I inscribed a title page and even used a matching color of ink. The seven entries, dated from October 7 to October 24, take up just 25 of the blank book’s 200 pages. Yet another failed effort. 

One of the vignettes here resulted In a pleasant and sentimental trip down memory lane, one that set in motion a series of images involving parenting at that time. It’s worth sharing. 

Sunday, October 9, 1994 

As he’s been doing for most of his 7 years, Andy accompanied me to the grocery store this morning. He’s become quite the little helper on these excursions. Selecting the produce. Attaching the ties to the plastic bags. Inspecting the eggs. Hefting a gallon jug of milk into the cart. Bagging the groceries. He still lets me push the cart. \ 

Actually, over the past 6 months, most of my trips to the grocery store have been solo. I can even pinpoint the date: Mother’s Day 1994, when Andy rode his bike without training wheels for the first time. We let him ride around the block by himself. Within a week, he was not making a prompt reappearance. So began his friendship with Meaghan Stehr and more important things to do with his weekend time than tagging along with Dad through the aisles of Cub Foods, even with the promised reward of a bag of Skittles for good behavior. 

Andy has always been good company on these errands, which were probably a regular occurrence in his life by his first birthday. During his 2’s, I used the book The Berenstain Bears Get the Gimmes to teach him lessons on moderation, i.e., you can’t always get what you want. 

No, Andy, we’re not going to buy Fruit Roll-ups this time. 

The more things change, the more they remain the same. Twenty-eight years later, Andy and I are still making trips to the store together. Under very different circumstances. 

During the pandemic, Andy and I make regular Saturday morning trips to Knoche’s meat market. With menu planning having become a key part of our family life, we stock up on the items we need for the coming week’s dinners. We also take advantage of certain items that always seem to be on sale: bone-in/skin-on chicken breasts (as low as $1.99/lb.) and pork spare ribs ($2.59/lb. – it’s one of Andy’s specialties) are two of our staples, especially now that JoAnna is limiting her intake of beef. 

 

These Saturday morning excursions sometimes includes at Brennan’s Market, where we buy most of our produce. During our drive-time, the car radio is tuned to SIRIUS XM 70s on 7, as we listen to the latest rebroadcast of Casey Kasem’s “American Top 40”. 

Andy is still good company after all these years.