As a Jewish, working-class lesbian living in a state whose electoral votes actually didn't matter a whole lot, I knew that mine would not be a deciding vote in this game. So perhaps I shouldn't feel so burned in the end.
But I am.
I am scared, and worried about all the uncertainty before me, and before our country.
Signs so far are not promising; the President-Elect is considering for his cabinet appointments people who lack governmental experience in the areas they're being picked to work in. Or they have a history of vocally wanting to do away with the very governmental department they're being asked to oversee.
All that will be waiting for me when I get home.
For now, I am in beautiful Northern California, celebrating Thanksgiving with my partner and her family. We are enjoying mellow days of conversation, board games and walks along the rugged coastline; and nights of pounding rainstorms on the roof. Tomorrow, we'll sit down to a Thanksgiving dinner where we'll take some time to recount our blessings of the past year.
For some folks, this may be the only time they consciously pause to consider such things on a regular basis.
I used to be that way myself, a long time ago when I was much younger and healthier and felt quasi-immortal.
Then, life happened. And I got older, Bones got broken, and so did my heart (more than once).
And when I came out the other side of all that, I realized that the fact that I'm still here may be the whole point. We get hurt, we get knocked about by life; and if we wake up the next morning then we have a lot to be thankful for, every new day.
So that led me to make gratitude a regular part of my personal daily stuff. I begin each morning with a thought of something I'm grateful for -- usually it's just waking up, but sometimes it's the purr of one of the cats or the smile on my Sweetie's face when we both open our eyes. Since consciously making gratitude a regular moment in my morning, I've found that my moods are a little bit better, and I am a little bit better equipped to start my day with a clear head. It's not much, but I'll take it.
I hope that this week gives us all some time to pause and reflect on the blessings of our lives.
And when the week is done and we all go back to work, I hope that we'll all find strength and renewed purpose to use our blessings to make a difference for someone else who could use a blessing or two themselves.
Happy Thanksgiving, and may we strengthen each other to do good in the world.