“Belt and Suspenders”
My husband, Peter, is taking no chances.
I knew this about him before I married him. Peter has a plan for everything and a plan in case the first plan doesn't pan out. My father would call this "belt and suspenders" planning. Peter's been walking around in a belt and suspenders ever since I've known him.
Peter's planning has made surviving the pandemic a lot easier than it would have been otherwise. We never run out of anything. That might sound impossible, but it's almost true . Peter buys everything in quantity and notices when supplies start to run low. This allowed us to adopt the "Every Other Week Grocery Buying Plan."
Occasionally, I would consume more milk than Peter had estimated, and we had to dash out to the local convenience store . This prompted Peter to create the "Powdered Milk Back-Up Plan."
“Powdered milk is great!” Peter said.
I don’t know if powdered milk is great, but it’s better than no milk at all.
Peter is also the one who tried to enlist me in the “Hiking Pole Plan.” I resisted mightily. I first saw hiking poles about a decade ago, used almost exclusively by people walking on dry sidewalks where they seemed entirely unnecessary.
“That’s the dumbest thing ever,” I declared. Then I met Peter. Peter was enthusiastic about hiking poles.
“They’ll catch you if you slip!” Peter said. “You could fight off a dog—or even a bear—if you were attacked!” Peter had lots of good reasons I should adopt the “Hiking Pole Plan” and I wasn’t buying any of them.
“How would I talk?” I asked him. “I need my hands to talk and, if I had hiking poles, I wouldn’t be able to say a word!”
Peter did not seem to think this was such a terrible idea.
But then one day we got a lot of snow and I decided to hike with ski poles. They were super helpful. By the time the snow melted , I had gotten used to them. I tried hiking poles. I liked them. I still haven't had to fight off a bear, but I've been using them ever since.
"You see?" Peter said, "Aren't they great?" The wonderful thing about Peter is that he never gloats when I come around to adopting his plan. He is just delighted.
Most of the time, however, Peter just pays close attention and plans accordingly. He notices what I am consuming, even if ...
