This Week in Logistics News (March 14-18, 2016)

By Adrian Gonzalez

“Look at them!” my mom’s younger sister says to her, as they both look out the window from the top floor of the Sweet’N Low factory in Brooklyn where they both work. “What fools!” my aunt says, and they both giggle like college girls, which is basically how old they are, as they watch the two older men hovering in the parking lot below, waiting for the factory whistle to blow, waiting for my mom and aunt to emerge from the building to resume their courtship dance. “Let’s go out the back door,” my aunt says laughing, and she pulls my mom away from the window and they run down the back stairs, exit the building, and make their way home, still laughing, still thinking, “What fools!”

Of course, those two fools ultimately became my dad and uncle, who later became the factory foreman. I never asked them, but I imagine my father and uncle eventually got tired of waiting in the parking lot that spring afternoon almost fifty years ago, and they walked away without saying much to each other, lighting cigarettes and feeling a little disappointed, perhaps, like you do when you miss the early train, but not feeling like fools at all. They knew what they were doing all along.

I’m on my way to New York this morning for my uncle’s funeral. He died on Monday, a day shy of his 84th birthday. This August will mark eight years since my father passed away at the age of 73. I close my eyes and see them both as young men hovering in a parking lot, my uncle’s booming voice cutting through the air, and I see my mom and aunt as young women giggling by a window, and like a fool, I wish I could be there too, hovering and giggling with them, waiting for the factory whistle to blow.

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Without commentary, I leave you with this week’s supply chain and logistics news. Have a happy weekend!