Rio and I greet visitors as the enter the store.
This morning around 7 am, as we drove a stretch of Highway 90 that is totally surrounded by marsh, the car’s power cut and we coasted to the shoulder. Unprepared, we had no water, no food, and the power windows up and locked into position. So we walked to the nearest gas station, an EZ Serve near the Mississippi/Louisiana border.
We got drinks, sat, and waited.
And waited…
And waited…
Sitting outside a gas station for 3.5 hours is a great place to watch, listen and learn. Here are four lessons that were reinforced for me this morning:
The picture of patience.
1. There are good people in the world – like the cashier who gave us a bowl of water for the dog, and all the people who offered us rides.
2. There are bad people in the world – like the four men who beat and robbed the owner of the EZ Serve this past Saturday. May he have a speedy recovery.
3. Locavore is an urban word for what country folk do anyway – eat what comes from their gardens, share some fish they caught this weekend, swap stuffed artichoke recipes in the gas station. (I can’t wait to try it with Ritz crackers!)
4. Patience is a virture too few of us have. I think my dog Rio handled the wait best by making friends, napping, and marking new territory.
Number 3 is my favorite!
Probably mine too. All month I’ve been trying to adhere to the rules of the Eat Local Challenge that I sometimes missed the point. Our modern food system is flawed. We often can’t track food to its source, our meals are becoming less nutrious, and we are losing diversity in food. We have the power in this because we are the consumers.