Summer’s over and the kids are back. It’s the time of year when Target appears to have been attacked by locusts, and Trader Joe’s feels like trying to get to the bar at a popular nightclub. I recently asked ChattyG to tell me how many people live here. The basic math was 25,000– double it when the college kids come back.
This week was move-in week and we’re really lucky to have a new crop of family friend freshmen starting school. Which means I got us out of the barn in the nick of time for guests. So nice to have a visit from the Palms.
This time of year always reminds me of my first back-to-school after we’d moved here. I was parkouring my way through Trader Joe’s, dodging boys holding all their groceries in their arms. Like they don’t know about shopping carts or baskets and so they walk around the store trying to hold everything they want.
I find myself near the milk cooler and there are two young “adults” pondering the milk. One guy says to the other guy, “Which milk do I get?” And the other one is like, “Bro, what kind of milk do you drink?” And the first kid’s like, “I dunno.” And of course I’m like, “Holy bleep. I have to get home and make sure the two boys at my house are not one day wandering around Trader Joe’s with armfuls of peanut butter cups and orange chicken, not knowing the basics about cow’s milk.”
Periodically I introduce pop quizzes. One time I asked Nate, “So you know that story I told you about the two dudes at Trader Joe’s and the milk? What kind of milk do you drink?”
And he says, “Organic.”
“Good, but there’s more.”
And he exclaims, “DHA Omega-3!”
And I’m like, “Whole milk, Nate. The answer we’re looking for is whole milk.” So I’m still working on helping him understand skim, 2%, and whole. I appreciate that the cartons he’s been reading do lead with this value prop.
Unfortunately, I missed Nate’s first season game last weekend for a girls trip to LA. Crazy fun. But, apparently at Nate’s game there was a lot of drama, multiple red cards, the whole thing. Fortunately, we won. Coach relayed one of the quotes from the other team to one of our players, “Eff you you effing rich boy.” That’s when he got his red card.
Given this whole milk convo… sounds about right.