A Family Affair

It was cracking me up as I was getting ready for Market this morning how much of a family effort it is for us, for me to get out the door with everything I need.

Our three oldest were helping highlight the fridge and freezer items on your invoices (“No, canned chicken doesn’t go in the fridge! Oops Mom!” “No Ice Cream today? Well that’s less for you to forget, Mommy!” Thanks, guys) while toddler Anna pulled the papers out of the printer and handed them to me, generally waiting until they were all the way printed. Four year old Molly was mostly intent on breakfast after she learned there were no plants sold for her to water, while Daddy has it hardest, keeping us ALL on track while watching the clock :-)

We’ll call it Market Math that Anna’d say, “One paper Mommy, Two papers Mommy” correctly – and who can blame her on a large order week that after patiently waiting for most to print, she found her own fun putting away the tray to catch the papers as they printed, watching them float to the floor, then when I held out my hand for the next one, impishly looking at me, saying, “No more papers, Mommy”!

If I didn’t have such good (maybe fun is more accurate) help it’d be much harder to be on time (although in the same breath it makes it hard to leave the house, too!) – and it makes me smile all over again when I get your items ready for pickup and see the names of the folks we talked about that morning. “Well, that’s a new name!” “How do you say Ndzgorski?” “Hey, Leonore is back!” “Tell Joseph Leffler Joseph said HI!” “How is Vivian doing?”

Whether you know it or not, you’ve made a big impact on our family, and I’m grateful. Whether it’s enjoying the logistics of making lists and counting money, understanding the basics of relationship marketing at age 6, or simply enjoying knowing they’re being helpful to nice people who appreciate what they’re doing, running the Market is a fun part of our family life, and it wouldn’t be possible if you didn’t believe in and support local food.

So from Lee, Jennifer, Lucy, Joseph, Mary, Molly and little Anna Ruff, THANK YOU.