It Means So Much

I sometime feel a bit off kilter

I love this picture painted by my Mom, serenity

Human felicity is produced not so much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen, as by little advantages that occur every day.                                                                                    Benjamin Franklin

Rumor has it that we age every day. Sometimes looking in the mirror we realize that perhaps, just perhaps, we are not as attractive as we once were. One of my sons, age 16, pointed this out to me many years ago. He was looking at an family photo album when he came upon a picture of me in college. He stopped, looked up and with utter sincerity said, "Mom, you used to be really good looking!" I said, "Used to be?!" and he repeated himself with emphasis on the "used to be". This young man is know for his kindness, what he said in his mind was a compliment and a current observation. Sigh. 

Another wicked rumor is that and we're all going to eventually die. So my friends we need to make the most of today, revel in life and as my sister says, "carpe them diems". Seizing upon this though and knowing that this the last gasps of summer, we took a mini vacation and had a delightful day yesterday. It ended in a lovely encounter.

My husband and I hopped on our bikes and jumped on the ferry to ride around on another small island. Enroute we encountered a couple of humpbacked whales and sat with two good friends on the ferry enjoying the trip. And this wasn't, for me, the high point of the journey. 

 We then biked about twenty miles through forests and next to beaches grateful for the smoke free experience. Forest fires are still raging in the NW but our area is finally free of the smoke. After our ride we stopped off at a small general store on the island that also served lunch. Reuben sandwich for me, [I tend to only order things in a restaurant that I would never make at home], my husband had the seafood chowder and a salad and we split the lot between us. A delightful repast. That wasn't the high point either.   Waiting for the tiny ferry to take us back to the mainland was a good time to reflect on the ride, the views, the trees we encountered. Lovely but still not the high point.

We barely made it back to our own ferry, within minutes of departure. Upstairs on the ferry we plunked ourselves down, and sat separately because I like sitting in the sun and Mr. G finds it hot and annoying. After awhile, I too was cooking and went over to him and said, "I'm going for a stroll, care to join me?" "No, I'm pretty comfortable here...have at it." So I did my perambulation around deck on the outside of the ferry, quite breezy but it felt just great on this beautiful warm day amid the azure sky, lightly clouded with the abundant seagulls whirling overhead. That was not the high point either. 

The ferry ride almost at an end, I came back to my booth and was sitting reading my magazine when a lovely older woman [an older woman is defined as anyone at least 10 years older than me], came up to me. "Is that your husband?" she said pointing to Mr.G in the booth across the way. "Yes he is." Smiling warmly she said, "I just want to tell you that he looked at you twice." I took both of her hands in mine, now both of us smiling. This gracious woman knew how much it would mean to me that behind my back, and without my knowledge, my husband was giving me an appreciative once over, or in this case twice over. I thanked her profusely for her kindness. And that my friends was the highlight of a perfect day. 

What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?          Jean-Jacques Rousseau

This simple interaction took less than two minutes but I'll tell you I can't wait to pay it forward. It's widely touted to do simple acts, random acts, of kindness. What is rarely talked about is being on the receiving end. It was the highlight and when I told Mr. G what she said, he doesn't blush, but he smiled and looked down on me [he is more that a foot taller than me] with such love. 

susansmagicfeather copyright 2018 Susan R. Grout all rights reserved 

Fixing the Party and Having Fun Doing So

A wise owl told me

"Democracy has to be born anew every generation and education is its midwife." -- John Dewey

Why I proudly choose to be a Democrat in these difficult times is for the simple reason this is the party that has compassion and cares about all the people, the party of inclusiveness. But rather than all of us talking and complaining about this abysmal presidency we need to do something to combat all the bigotry.   We need protective measures.         

The smart thing to do at an Eclipse is to wear protective attractive glasses

I believe:

Loving is Doing.                                                               

 It is a great honor to be in an organization that seeks to bring people together in harmony and love and works for the good of all the people. That in essence is how I see the Democratic party at it's finest. 

Alas, it's a human organization and naturally is riddled with flaws. Upon close, caring examination it's obvious it's the Democratic party that could lead us out of this disastrous administration's agenda which is all about power, greed, destruction of the environment, and cruelty to children and women. 

I am hoping that wisdom and goodness can prevail and here in our small county and in our grand country we can learn to be more flexible and be willing to support our Democrats that are running for office in 2018. I fear sabotage of their efforts because their agenda is not liberal enough, not progressive enough.  D's need all the help we can get and swiping at each other is playing right into the Republican's hands. They would like nothing better than a fracturing in the Democratic organization. Rigidity is one way that can ruin and fracture us.

I'm concerned and so I ask you to consider that the word "progressive" has become a code word for a certain agenda. Just last fall in our little county we were trying to endorse candidates, there was spirited debate. At one point it looked to my horror that Patty Murray was not going to be endorsed. Finally, the votes were counted and Patty Murray was endorsed.  Sincerely, do you know of a better advocate for women and children? Then please appreciate how gutsy Patty Murray has been standing up to this ignorant administration. And there was talk of not endorsing her!? That's where the canker gnaws. Perhaps she didn't think the time was right for single payer health care, or doubted the math for figuring out the cost of Medicare for all. Perhaps she didn't rally around 110% free college tuition, does that truly negate all of the stunningly hard good work she has done for this country?

sign me up for the high jinx rallies

I guess part of me wants so badly to defeat the prejudice, the bigotry, the meanness of this administration that I don't want to see a descent into talk of a 3rd party which I hope to God you all can see is the kiss of death for our party, again. Instead couldn't we all agree that we have a common enemy: #45 and the obtuse people that are too cowardly to stand up for his immaturity and nonsense. Couldn't we all have rallies with costumes and make fun of the  bigoted ones? They do that in Germany, dress as clowns and make fun of the Neo Nazis. High time we started that movement.

Other than that I am fine with all of the wrangling about procedure rules, by laws, who does what in the organizations across the country. I truly believe the small in fighting as far less important than the agreement that we will support our hard working Democrats who have a chance of taking back the Senate and a wild card shot at the house in 2018. Go in peace oh yea hopefuls of bringing intelligence and sanity back to our nation.
Amen

susansmagicfeather 2018 copyright Susan R. Grout all rights reserved