Political Rant

No, I haven’t had any problems on the blog with political comments. I try to keep politics off the blog. I have long time friends on Facebook that cannot seem to stop talking politics. Most of those who continue to post are obviously not happy with the current President. Not everyone is. There’s probably never been a president in the history of this country where everyone has been happy with the election outcome. It’s seriously time to let it go! Posting about the election results or something the President has done or said isn’t going to change anything. It’s likely going to keep you angry and in a state of turmoil. I hate to say this because it sounds bad but honestly . . get over it! Enjoy your life. Improve on the things you can change and try to ignore the things you cannot change.

January has not been a great month for me. My dad passed away a couple of weeks ago. It wasn’t a huge surprise. He was 91 and had some health issues but I suppose no one, especially a daughter who thought her dad walked on water, is ready to lose him. The last few years had not been great for my relationship with my dad. A family member terribly dislikes Vince and caused lots of problems and pretty much forbid my dad to talk to me. I will never understand it and I’m struggling to even forgive this person. It’s history. I cannot change it. I have to let it go. I’m doing better than I was a week ago, and I’ll be doing better a week from now. Time has a way of healing all hurts and wounds . . I hope.

My 96 year old great aunt also passed away this week. She is the one I’ve mentioned on here before. She lived down the road from my grandparents and she had a daughter close to my age so I would walk down there to visit. No phones, no bicycle, no traffic on the little dirt road. She was the last living sibling of my grandpa and he has been gone for about 20 years.

Maybe it’s because of these two recent losses in my life that I want to see and read and hear “happy” and not sad and angry. I fully understand that everyone has the right to post anything they want on their Facebook page or on their blog or anywhere. I’m not putting anyone down for doing that . . I’m just wondering why they’re choosing to give political issues so much space in their head!

Please think about what you’re posting, what you’re watching, what you’re letting consume your life or even reside in your head. It’s time for me to think about my friends on Facebook, and I fully understand that no one cares if I’m their friend or not. We all change. Our lives take different paths. I still follow people even though 20 plus years after we became virtual friends, we have little in common. I enjoy reading about their life experiences and what’s going on with them. What I cannot continue doing is seeing political rants from my friends on Facebook.

Life is short. Have fun. Make a positive difference in someone’s life. Don’t let the current news bring you down and rob you of your joy.

I decided a long time ago (so wise in my old age . . I almost typed “wide” instead of “wise” and that would have been more accurate!) that it doesn’t matter which channel you watch or what you read – liberal, conservative, supposedly factual with no bias . . there’s a slant to it. For a while, I would watch Fox and CNN and then decide what I believed to be correct, often something in the middle of what I was hearing. Then I decided . . why do I really care? I cannot change it and knowing it and fretting about it isn’t going to make me any better prepared or any happier. There is so rarely anything on the news that I NEED to know or that will improve my day.

Vince has always said I live my life through rose colored glasses. Maybe I do but I’d rather be happy and uninformed than know everything going on, especially things I cannot change (which is pretty much everything on the news) and be miserable, angry, or fearful.

Every single night, Vince asks me “What are your plans for tomorrow?” I tell him the exact same thing every day – play with Boots, Oscar and Cooper, cross stitch and fix you something to eat! Some days, I don’t cook. Today, the hospital has fish so we’re eating there. So, on the days I don’t cook, I will fix him a little surprise – yogurt with fruit, or heat up some brie and serve it with crackers and strawberry jam, make a pan of escargot – just some little something. Then I’ll say “My day is complete. I’ve played with Boots, Oscar and Cooper, cross stitched and fixed you something to eat!” We both laugh – my goals are so easily met! Even though I have my journal and my calendar, and I write down all my plans for the next day, about the only things that I feel like I MUST do each day are those three things.

Let’s all try to be happy and positive. Let’s be nice to people. Let’s be the best person we can be and, most of all, let’s enjoy life. It passes by way too quickly!