Time

As anyone with grandchildren will tell you, 

it goes too fast.

One minute you're babysitting for an infant

and, just days later,

they're going into 2nd grade

or helping you by picking up sticks from the yard...

now, if I could only get her to cut the grass, trim and spread mulch,

I'll be set.

       For those under 60, let me tell you a secret:

 time goes into hyper-drive as you age.

 

If you listen to any news at all these days, 

issues about age, and our conflicted feelings about it, 

are alive and well. 

 

In fact, I believe, the amount of coverage given to 'aging'

is indicative of a larger societal struggle

revealing how much we generally avoid acknowledging and accepting

certain realities about getting older -

for ourselves and for others.

 

Our current president told us almost 4 years ago 

that his would be a transitional presidency -

anyone else remember that?

He was going to get us out of the chaos and turmoil 

created 24/7 by the Orange Menace 

and steer the nation away from the pandemic and the uncertainty

that was rampant.

And he's done that.

By any economic measure - except perception about inflation -

our economy is ahead of the majority of other countries,

post pandemic

and we're doing very well.

 

The trouble is, somewhere along the line,

the DNC forgot that someone was supposed to come next.

 

I'm certainly not a political operative inside the Beltway

I only obsess and watch MSNBC and the Meidas Network daily

so I,at least, know the players -

and, from what I see,

there is NO indication that a core group of younger progressive Democrats

has been identified, mentored and held up on a consistent National basis,

creating a pool from which to choose our next Presidential candidate.

 

A job, btw, which should have been happening over the last 3 years -

not 2 months prior to the Democratic Convention;

not in an election year when our democracy 

and the constitution, as we know it,

is up for grabs.

Biden had a terrible debate experience of 90";

no argument here.

But the subsequent, very public, hand-wringing and setting our collective hair on fire

that the Dems are engaging in is NOT helpful.

(Perhaps those of us who have testified in court multiple times

as expert witnesses

have more sympathy for flubbed word choices

 and being off our game than most.

I can't tell you the number of times I did my best, 

wasn't totally pleased but thought I passed - 

if I graded myself on a curve -

but, when I got the transcript to review,

was appalled and surprised they hadn't immediately 

sent for a mental health eval team for all the gibberish I was spouting.)

I don't know you guys;

is Biden old?

You bet he is, and getting older by the day -

AS WE ALL ARE.

 

I'm younger than he is and I, sure as hell,

wouldn't want the responsibility of being in charge of the country.

3 years as Senior Warden at our church 

was the height of the responsibility I was willing to take on.

Is he capable of leading our country?

Yes.

How do I know?

Because he's doing it!!

 

And, even if you buy into conspiracy theories 

that it's not him that's running the country,

if it's not him that's making all the decisions, 

at least he's gathered a group of competent, knowledgeable 

public servants around him

that are guiding him in ways that serve us all.

 

 If I was Jill, I'd be begging him to sit this one out;

to take me home to the summer house and watch waves come in and go out

for whatever period of time we have left.

But she knows who she married -

a public servant who wants what's best for the country.

 

Frankly, I'm voting for Joe -

even if he's stuffed and propped in a chair

in a corner.

 Because our democracy is on the line.

 

Fascists are waiting to install a dictator and institute religious law 

that will make The Handmaids Tale look like a vacation spot in the Caribbean.

We have a corrupt Supreme Court

that is reinterpreting the Constitution to meet their ideological ends.

Changing horses in midstream sounds risky and dangerous to me.

Vote for Joe - and get Kamala as our first woman president -

when he dies;

which he will.

I'm good with that;

unless of course, I die first.

Then, good luck to all of you.

Democracy was great while it lasted.

Surrealism - because what we call 'reality' can't be, right?

 

The time we're living in feels so surreal to me

that to lose oneself in surrealism  feels like the only antidote.

While I'm 'titrating' the amount of 'news' and opinions from talking heads,

or trying to silence the voices that occupy my own interior space,

I take out my art supplies and play.

It's easy to color, draw or cut up paper and use a glue stick;

what's less easy is to turn off the inner critic, you know, 

the one who tells you that the results of your playing is ugly, 

people will laugh at it and that you should be embarrassed.

 

There's a chance that the critic is right.

But this 'playing' is for me -

as simple or as badly executed as it is.

 

Anyone else tired of fragile old white men?

 

More of us than than them.

 

Wonder what it will take for some men to feel comfortable 

in their masculinity?

Wonder how many innocents have to die before they do.

 

With love to my Democratic friends who are making my head spin.

 

When life hands you lemons...

Just call me Nero;

not fiddling but crafting

as our empire collapses.

A much needed reminder

 Everything is on fire,

but everyone I love is doing beautiful things

and trying to make life worth living,

and I know I don't have to believe in everything,

but I believe in that.

 

Nikita Gill

 

 

A recent visit to Chicago was helpful to have had before

the country started its quicksand sink into the pit.

 

A dose of family and reminders of the ties we choose

have been important in grounding me 

in what truly counts and who we can truly count on. 

It was also fun to have family meet the youngest, who hasn't been able to travel until now.

 

The Crew at the Zoo. 

It was worth the miles, frustration of trying to coordinate schedules for 15+ people

and weather, which is always there to remind you that you are NOT in control of anything! 

There are now NO elementary or middle schoolers up North;

only high school and college kids!

How did THAT happen?!

A visit to the Home Alone house was a highlight for a kid 

that knows the dialogue and every stunt in the original movie;

it's on sale for a few million dollars, if anyone is interested.

Not something we'd pick up, so it's yours.

 

 

 

After a cold rainy day at the zoo,

we were rewarded with the quintessential beach day.

And, boy, did we soak it up!

Have to be honest, some of the glow was dimmed when, 

upon my return, in fact, even before I had unpacked the car,

the decision had to be made to have my companion of 12 years put to sleep.

Oreo had a stroke, in the car, on the way home from the kennel.

I firmly believe she was just waiting for me to get home.

Not going to lie,

adjusting to the new normal without her has been hard.

Anyone else feeling that, sometimes, getting older 

is simply loss upon loss.

Such a good girl;

she'll be missed.

 

Here's what I know to be true

 * for more than 3 years, I woke from sleep every morning

without fear in the pit of my stomach:

waiting to discover that some tweet or post

had sent our nation 

or a group of vulnerable people in it

into the chaos 

that both existed in

 and were created in,

 a demented mind.

 

*I was able to believe that decent, honorable men and women

were working in all 3 branches of government,

implementing policies that would contribute to the general good of all.

 *I believed what I had been taught in Citizenship class in high school:

that no one was above the law

and that while an infraction of any law might take awhile-

for gathering evidence and prosecution-

I believed that justice would, at least, 

be attempted and meted out.

*I acknowledge that my perception of 'the system'

was based on my privilege and whiteness

and that not everyone had experiences that reinforced those beliefs

or allowed them to believe in the impartiality of those systems.

But, after a turbulent 6 years, it felt that the ship had, at last, been righted.

I believe I let myself be duped -

and I know that I am not some Pollyanna who is easily scammed

or someone who closes her eyes to the reality in front of her.

 Yet, here we are.

 

Project 2025, 

all 900 pages of it, 

waiting in the wings to be implemented 

the minute another conservative Republican president gets elected - 

or put into office by a corrupt Supreme Court. 

 

Jesus H Christ...

and ghost of Richard Nixon -

"If the President does it, it's not illegal."

A President has now been replaced by a King;

the pivotal book from my adolescence/early adulthood 

"Our Bodies, Ourselves", 

would now be entitled 

"The Government owns your ass, 

as well as your uterus, Fallopian tubes and va jay jay" -

ok, so the title would have to be punched up...

*I also know to be true that I'm scared -

as is every other woman I know 

and more than half the sentient, well-intentioned men I know, 

despite all my rhetoric, also true, about the patriarchy and all the ways

it needs to be eliminated.

 

I also know I'm pissed -

because anger is more energizing and empowering than fear or despair,

although no more real.

 

Maybe Michelle Obama can afford to take the high road when they go low;

she does, after all, have enough money

to hide out with an ocean view in Hawaii;

I want to burn it all down, get into street fights

(a highly questionable choice given my mobility issues and cane)

and be so much of a pain in the ass to those 

supercilious pompous bastards in charge 

that my name makes the list of folks headed to Qitmo.

Other than that, my week was great!

How was yours?