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Category: Reflections

Thanksgiving 2017

I really do not want to dwell on the past year’s historic mindblowing state of affairs, nor do I want to dwell on the personal bombshells that have hit our family. So, I won’t.

Thanksgiving is about being thankful – grateful for what we do have.

I have family. For this, I am most grateful. My husband, my son, my grandson, my uncle and aunt, my cousins – and my family in-laws, present and past, who are extremely wonderful and gracious to me. For this is a beautiful thing and family is one gift of being human – especially if family relationships are good.

I have relative health compared to some. OK, aging does mean that you are still here on the planet, but it poses challenges as parts are wearing out on you, or becoming defective, you have to deal with it. So, I can’t go on that run today, as I normally do – but, I am not bedridden, I can walk without assistance, I can climb stairs, and probably, if I went out right now and got on it, I could ride my bicycle. Injuries are hopefully temporary.

I made 2 pies and one dessert, yesterday, with an aging oven. It was a challenge, but guess what? We have pies and a dessert. I hope that they are tasty.

I did the baking without copious amounts of wine as I had to rely upon last year during our unfolding family crises. It got worse before it began to stabilize. I was proud that I did Christmas and steeled up in the storm, with all of the uncertainty. I am certain that this took it’s toll on my mental health and potentially, on my physical health.

This year, I am grateful that things began to stabilize, last spring, but we are not ever going to be back where we were. Forever changed by one person, never anticipated, it is how life is to have these unexpected turns.

Turkey and trimmings. Friends. Fellowship. The good weather we are now having after the crazy weather we suffered at the turn of the seasons… Knowing that holidays are difficult for some large number of people this year due to that crazy weather, we pray for their recoveries – each of them. We pray for the state of the world, as it is in peril right now. We pray for stability. We pray for healing. We pray for the lonely and those who are alone today. We pray for hope. We pray for a future for my grandson that will not prove difficult for him to live a good life.

Thanksgiving is about giving thanks for what we have and it is for praying for the future of the world that includes everyone and everything in it. Peace be with the world.

November 23, 2017
OK, it is getting bad now. Are you guys going to do something?

Yes. It is extremely beyond the realm of disturbing. Those who experienced the days of Watergate most certainly are trying to relate these days to those days, but there are many changes that have happened during the time since that make these days so wild and crazy that those days look like a scene out of Currier and Ives – and if you don’t know who that is, let’s just say that was serene by comparison.

In January, I asked you to consider the tomato. Well, that was then and this is now. Still keep your eye on the tomato, as it is important. What is more going on is that we have an unpredictability that has created an underlying anxiety and tension, an uncertainty that we only thought we imagined would happen – those of us who worried at the outcome in November 2016. As for those who wanted someone who would “disrupt” – well, you got that and everything you did not wish for besides.

The recently publicized meeting of the “staff” called into my memory the Twilight Zone of the 1960’s. In situations, where there was a “disturbed” person who had a grip on everyone, the interfaces were all so extremely polite and no one dared to speak ill of the “disturbed” person – only we, the viewers of The Zone, knew that this was not going to end well for anyone unless someone got brave enough to sneak out (somehow impossible), and run like hell to the nearest neighbor with a phone. No cell phones back then, no sir. Yet, today, we have rapid communication, constantly buzzing – and no one comes to the rescue! Good grief – if only they knew what they had at their fingertips! Imagine the ones that didn’t get away… Yikes.

Let’s check this off: One crazy family (kind of like The Addams Family, but weirder), a “whimsical” leader, who is more like a crazy monarch than an elected official. Sometimes he acts sort of normalish, then other times, he just can’t keep under control – kind of like that old uncle that you might have had once, who everyone had around on holidays, but winced the entire time until he left… And then there’s Twitter. And the media. And all of the “pundits” who have an opinion who really are not doing anyone any favors – just keeping us all stirred up all the time, 24 X 7. Did you notice that this “leader” does not ever stop – he works all the time!

And he is 70+ Holy Moly! It’s shocking and wrong in so many ways that it does your head in… seriously. And that “wife” of his… Bless her. Can you even imagine what she is thinking? There’s the “Daughter-Wife” and the “Son in Law” and then the band of loosely related “brothers”, and of course, “Little Sister” who is going off to become a lawyer – seriously? Right.

As you know, six months of collecting all of this thinking, it’s worse than predicted at this point. No one seems to want to do anything and some people even think that “it’s OK – we just need to give “him” a chance” – whaaaaat? Let me ask you, do you think he would give YOU a CHANCE? Not in your life.

It is all truly disturbing – that is an understatement.

Stay tuned folks, it won’t be long before the shit hits the fan: what’s your bet? Will we see “tipping point” within the year?

The rumbling has begun – and what is it that they say, “Let’s rumble?” No, it’s not okay and hopefully, someone will do something and be a hero – get us back to the middle where we belong…

June 14, 2017 – Flag Day

June 14, 2017
here we are in the years. the eve of another thanksgiving day.

here lately, in our years on the sea of life, we have entered into one of those stormy territories, where the swells are large and the waves are high making it a challenge to navigate, and the winds change and increase, then decrease, but we know we have not yet reached the eye, and we know that when we do, there will be more of the same, or worse, before the storm dissipates. this is an illustration of how little control we actually have in our lives, and that we only can hope to control what each of us does, and how we respond to whatever is laid in our paths.

we say that it’s life, but nonetheless, how to navigate it right now requires much in the order of calling up troubleshooting skills, interpretation skills like that of a fortune teller, and shields to protect against arrows that fly, and spears that are thrown, from those who are angry and just “getting it out of their systems” – the anger is so old and deep, that it might not be obvious the origin. you can get hurt. you will sustain lifelong scars. will it kill you? you do not know that. only God knows the answers. we pray that this is not part of the fallout.

so, you appeal to God in prayers. you might say, “hey God, i’m sorry that i haven’t been that attentive to my thankfulness and my gratitude lately. i’m sorry that i have hurt people, not intending to do that, but somehow through my thoughts, words, and deeds where those landed and people felt that i was doing something against them. you cannot predict or control how this goes. grace, here lately, has not been something that people are considering much. forgiveness is a concept that has not yet been included because it maybe is not time to do this for people who have felt hurt and down driven for a goodly period of time. this would come much later. usually. if it does.

we are here, the day before the big thanksgiving celebration and it is a somber one this year. since this time a year ago, many things have transpired. yet, we do need to think about those gifts in life for which we are grateful. if we look outward, we see that we have many gifts.

we have family, albeit some are in a period of instability. we are grateful to be in their lives, and will pray for resolution and healing for their troubled times.

we have our friends. friendship is a rich gift of being a human in this life. thanks are due for these friends.

we have a sunny day, after an overnight storm.

we have a roof over our heads, food on the table, and are not wearing rags and without shoes.

we know people who are fighting illnesses who have lived another day, and are grateful and full of grace. for those who lost their battles and have moved on, we are grateful for having them in our lives, as this was a gift to us.

we know people who are fighting instability in their lives, and we will pray for them. they have lost jobs, they are having relationship issues, or other problems in their lives. we will pray for them to overcome these challenges. having challenges as a human is part of living. we pray that the challenges do not overcome us, but that we overcome them.

most of all, we have love in our lives in many forms. we have love in our hearts. we do know that this comes from God’s universe and is within us, despite what we hear on the news, each of us has love within us. we only need to call upon the power of love and what wonders it can do to heal mankind, if we let it in.

on this eve of thanksgiving here in the USA, may the grace of God be upon you, within you, all over you and those with whom you are connected. we watch and pray for goodness and strength for good to come and in the next cycle, to anticipate thankfulness for the gifts of love in our lives.

November 23, 2016

November 23, 2016