This Empty Seat...

 

Hi,

Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

This empty seat has earned reverence, respect, and time to grieve.

The Notorious RBG.

As women, we owe her a perpetual debt of gratitude for taking a sledgehammer to glass ceilings. She wasn't able to get to all of them, so it's up to us to continue the fight.

Although she was American, her legacy is, and will continue to be, felt by little girls and women all over the world.

The way she walked through this life earned respect. Her shoes won't fit just anyone. Her successor needs to live up to her brilliance, her wisdom, her fight for equality for all. To do anything else would be every kind of wrong. 

Her legacy should not be stomped upon by rushing to stack the court. She deserves better. Her legacy should not be stomped on by trying to fill her shoes with someone who carries attitudes and beliefs from 60 years ago as they pertain to women, the LGBTQ+ communities, and others. 

They are trying to fill her shoes before she's even buried. He's naming the nominee today. Amy Coney Barrett. I would definitely question the character of someone who would accept the nomination under these circumstances. Accepting in this way says volumes about who she is. 

If she is a good fit for the shoes, she will be a good fit after the election. Why the rush?

Dear neighbours to the south, the guy who currently occupies your house is trying to lie his way into re-election. He's trying to kill everything you stand for. For those of us watching from the outside looking in, it's looking more and more like what happens in countries like Belarus, Russia, Cuba, and others like them. What's next? Mysterious deaths of people in opposition? 

A big step in that direction is not committing to a peaceful transfer of power. Check.

Make broad, debunked claims about voter fraud. Check.

Knee cap the Postal service to hinder mail-in ballots. Check.

Use the fact that the Postal service is now kneecapped to try to substantiate your claims. Check.

Continuously declare that the only way you can lose the election is if the opposition cheats. Check.

Encourage voter intimidation by telling your supporters to show up and guard polling places. Check.

Include your campaign propaganda in ballot mail outs. Check.

Prop up and help spread misinformation about... well, everything. Check.

Threaten to withhold federal funding to areas of the country that don't vote for you. Check.

Repeatedly call the free press the enemy of the people. Check.

Continually state that any opinion that contradicts yours is Anti-American. Check. 

Have private, armed militia show up at protests and throw law-abiding citizens in unmarked vans. Check.

When I turn on the news and see what's happening, it takes a minute to realize it's the United States they are talking about, and not one of those countries run by dictators.

I fear for you, neighbours. Please save the country you, your parents, grandparents, and other loved ones have fought and sacrificed for. 

Have all of the fallen soldiers fallen for nothing? Did they die to protect a democracy that you're so easily willing to give up? Did you fight for independence from a monarchy just to hand your freedoms over to a bully con man a couple of hundred years later?

He's full of it. He's terrified that once he is voted out he will start to face consequences for his actions. He needs the shield of the office to protect him from what he's done. So, he's willing to do anything to hold on to that shield.

He'll lie to you about the pandemic, causing thousands of deaths that didn't need to happen. All you have to do is look around at other countries to see that. 

He'll lie to you about ballot fraud. He actually said to 'get rid' of ballots. 

He'll lie to you about Biden, promoting altered videos, promoting propaganda put out by Russia.

He'll lie to you about anything he thinks will help in the moment. 

He lies to you about everything.

Please do yourself the favour of watching/reading international news. Step outside your bubble and look at what's happening from an objective perspective. Then, for your country's sake, VOTE! 

RBG.

Warrior until the very end. It has to mean something. 

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May your seat be filled by someone worthy of the space.

May your legacy be honoured by anyone trying to stand in your place.

May we value your work by continuing the fight.

May we see our daughters flourish following the trail blazed by your might.

May you forever be remembered as the warrior you were.

May you be honoured with all of the respect you so well deserved. 

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These Uncharted Waters...

 

Hi! 

Okay folks, I had to turn on my furnace! 

It hasn't fired up more than a few times, but DANG!

Before you jump all over me, allow me to make it super clear that I am very aware of the fact that we are EXTREMELY lucky. With the fires and flaming tornadoes ravaging the west coast, and the line-up of hurricanes bulking up, getting ready to take turns abusing all those that live along the gulf coast and the many unfortunate enough to reside in their paths, and all of the other natural disasters that are happening around the globe, having to have my furnace kick in a bit prematurely is less than nothing to complain about.

I have a furnace, a house to heat, and a bed to sleep in. 

That being said, the firing up of the furnace means summer, even though it's not official on the calendar, is, for all intents and purposes, over.

It's going to be a challenging season, as people become more and more fed up with COVID and everything it entails. So many people that I've talked to are simply sick of it. I think it's safe to say we all are. 

We know that it's not going anywhere any time soon. We know the measures we need to take to protect as many people as we can from getting it. We know this thing is Russian roulette. 

What we don't know is if the chamber is empty, has a rubber bullet, or if it carries the fatal shot.

If we come in contact with this thing we might not get it at all, we may get it and not get sick, inevitably spreading it without knowing it, we may get sick but bounce back just fine, we may get very sick and have lifelong damage, or, we may leave our loved ones behind to grieve us. 

Okay, so how do we get through the Fall?

Roll with it. What choice do we have?

There will always be those who don't want to believe how serious it is, and some who don't want to believe it exists at all. There's not much we can do about that. 

Nothing would make me happier than to look back at this stretch of time 10 years from now, and find that the naysayers were completely right, it was all overblown and we completely overreacted.

 I'll happily make a diet of nothing but crow for the rest of my life if that happens. 

In the meantime, we will just have to make the best of it. All of it.

More and more places will be requiring the wearing of masks. If you have an issue with it, albeit physical or philosophical, maybe don't take your grievances out on the people who work there. It's not their fault. 

If the policy, law, mandate, whatever you want to call it involves wearing a mask and you don't want to, or find it hard to wear one, just don't go there.

Personally, I'm claustrophobic, and for me, wearing a mask triggers all kinds of anxiety pretty quickly. Poor me, right? It's not exactly fun, but, thankfully, my hubby isn't, so he's been handling the errands that take longer than about ten minutes. Date nights are definitely different, we miss visiting people and having people over, and the challenges this thing has brought to our shop is a story in and of itself, but we're figuring it out. 

Everyone's circumstance is different, for sure. Everybody has to navigate these uncharted waters in whatever way they see fit. But, no matter your beliefs, no matter how you choose to roll, let's all do our best to not take our fear or frustrations out on others. 

As the saying goes, in a world where you can be anything, be kind.

Although we are going to have to live with this longer than we ever thought, it's still not forever. We'll just have to lift each other over the hardest parts. 

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Until next time...

May we all find a way to get through the next chapter of this unknown.

May we find a way, without our fears and frustrations becoming overblown. 

May we remember to be kind, after all, we are all in the same boat.

May we try to see past differences, remember our sameness, regardless of how we vote.

May we all follow the science, it's our only way to the other side.

May we follow the lighted path of science, here at home and worldwide.

And Away They Go!

 

Hi!

It's been a week, hasn't it?

Kids are back to school after an extremely long break. Getting back into a school routine, and a very different one than they are used to, is gonna require all kinds of patience.

Kids who are prone to losing things will still do so, it's just now sanitizers and masks are added to the list of things most likely to go missing. 

They are going to have a bit of a time getting used to the whole sitting for hours thing again, the structure, the bells, the bus rides, all of it. It's a lot.

As time progresses, it's a very real possibility that some, if not all of these new routines, the ones they've worked so hard to adhere to, could be uprooted, once again. It's a seat-of-the-pants start where things could change quickly. 

Patience.

Everyone is going to need to have an abundance of it, both to bestow upon others and to have gifted to them. Teachers, support staff, parents, and especially, the kids. 

Let's just try and remember everyone is doing their level best in a tough, never-experienced-before situation. 

We got this.

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9/11

A Tuesday, our second oldest daughter's 14th birthday. The girls were getting ready for school, the tv was on, tuned into a news channel.

I walked through the living room, on my way to the kitchen, only halfway paying attention to what was on the screen. I saw the first plane hit. I thought it was a movie trailer or something. I stopped to see. That's when the reality of what was happening began to scratch the surface of my psyche. By the time I was able to process the fact that this was actually happening, the second plane hit.

By this time we were all in the living room, watching in horror and disbelief. The girls were 15, 14, 10, and 9. 

The world was never the same after that. Fundamental things changed. 

It put the world on tilt. 

The world is tilting again. This time, not by something rooted in malicious intent. By a virus.

The virus was thrown at every continent. Almost every country. It was thrown at humanity in such a way as to test the leadership of every country hit.

Some have done well.

The countries where the leaders listen to the science, give their citizens all of the facts to help them make informed decisions, put safety nets in place so people can keep a roof over their heads and food on the table, make testing and contact tracing a priority, encourage and sometimes mandate wearing masks, the countries that have done and continue to do these things are doing pretty well.

Some haven't.

The countries where the leaders kept the truth from their citizens are still struggling. The countries where the leaders actively spread misinformation still have thousands of people dying from this virus every single week. A person can't help but wonder how many people might still be walking the earth if they had known the truth. The stats say tens of thousands of people, and that's just in the United States.

Tens of thousands of people who would still be with their families. Thousands of families unnecessarily grieving. 

For what.

It's impossible to wrap my head around the reasoning. 

To know how deadly the virus was. How easily it spread. How important early action was. Then, not only keep the truth to yourself, but tell the people you've sworn to protect, some bullshit fairytale about how it would disappear and was just like the regular flu. 

Receiving truth, spewing lies.

I don't get it, I will never get it. 

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May we never forget the tragedy that stole innocent lives and was fueled by hate.

May we learn from history that hate can beget nothing else, it seals a horrible fate.

May the truth seep through the fog-covered maze of lies streaming from the top.

May truth finally prevail, science be given the respect it deserves, may the spread of misinformation just stop.

May we all do what we do best, come together to get through the times that are tough.

May we all do our best to be patient, be kind, for everyone, this is hard, this is rough.

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As Autumn Falls Upon Us...

 

Hi!

Well, with the turn of the page, summer begins to fade in the rearview, allowing Autumn to fall upon us.

School, for most, is only a couple of sleeps away. 

My heart goes out to parents, teachers, and all the support staff. This is going to be a challenging year. Navigating in uncharted waters without knowing what kind of storms are on the horizon. 

No matter if you have chosen to home school, do virtual learning with others doing the teaching, or are physically sending them to the brick and mortar, the usual amount of back-to-school stress, which is more than enough, can't help but be amplified.

Let's do ourselves a favour and decide here and now to cut each other a whack of slack as the maneuvering of this maze, no matter which one, begins.

Let's cut the parents some slack. Regardless of the choices made, doubt is inevitable. With zero chance of perfection, how can it not?

Let's cut the teachers some slack. They've never done this before either. They will, as always, do their best to keep kids safe, but the weight of this extra responsibility is huge. There is zero chance of perfection here too.

Let's cut the support staff some slack. The bus drivers, the maintenance people, the TA's, their job descriptions are changing too. Again, zero chance of perfection.

The life skill of rolling with whatever life throws is being tested in a big way. It's going to be tough, that's a given. It's going to be challenging, also a given. It's going to be hard, but not impossible.

Let's decide to retire side-eye and just be supportive. Unconditionally supportive in whatever way we can.

If you are able, maybe donate some hand sanitizer for the backpacks of some littles. If you are able, maybe donate some sanitizing wipes to classrooms. If you are able, maybe be the place that stress can go to vent. 

Let's just do ourselves a giant solid and make a conscious effort to be kind to each other. Period.

As we wade into the last long weekend of the summer, on the threshold of the school year, let's be smart. No matter how sick we are of hearing about this virus, how sick we are of worrying about it, how exhausted we all are of the whole damn COVID thing, COVID doesn't care.

Let's keep doing the things that help keep this evil game of Russian roulette at bay. Let's wear the masks without complaining, let's keep our gatherings small and outside, let's wash our hands and wipe things down like we're cleaning up after a herd of hyper toddlers who just ate handfuls of chocolate ice cream and melted gummy bears. Let's take care of each other.

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May learning be a joy, no matter where or how it happens.

May the dust of upheaval settle before the year is at its end.

May you find a way to muddle through that doesn't make you feel crazy.

May you find a way to navigate this unknown, even if, right now the horizon looks hazy.

May we lift each other over the puddles, share the burden of the stress.

May we remember to be flexible, attentive, and kind, we are, in the end, all just doing our very best.

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