Skipping a Generation

My grandparents lived through some tough times.

There was the Great Depression, which forced my grandfather’s parents to send him to an orphanage when he was about 12. There were just too many mouths to feed, and nowhere near enough to go around.

Then, World War II sent the men in my family to places like Greenland and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The women learned to ration rubber and steel, and to conserve everything. There was an existential war on, and now was the time to make sure we didn’t run out of things we couldn’t replace.

There was no sense in throwing things away, especially in a world where you might not be so sure you could get a replacement. This was the time for a scarcity mindset if ever there was one.

I remember watching my grandmother wash a soup can out with soap, then set it on the dish drain to dry. This wasn’t something to be discarded, but something to be saved. A soup can could be used as a cup in a pinch, and you could even cook something in it if you could hold …