A Protest Haiku

Protest Poetry

I will never be

canceled. I will keep my

voice. I will be heard.

My mind is my own.

It is owned by no other.

Cancel me? Never.

Disagree with me?

Okay.  Let us talk. Ears woke.

But I WILL speak. Loud.

Covid Watch and Other Things

August 24th

After suffering through a miserable head cold for three days, I made it to Monday still alive.  The visit to my doctor ended with a Covid test and self-isolation instruction until the results come in.  I can plan on a 4 or 5 day wait.

I suppose there is never a good time for bad things to happen in one's life but the timing of this possible Covid visit feels especially ill-timed.  On September 7th I'm supposed to be in Tennessee to be on the scene to help our daughter after her scheduled C-Section on September 9th.  Needless to say, that won't be happening if the test comes back positive.

I called my daughter-in-law, Erin, to give her a heads-up on the situation and chose not to tell Kris.  I didn't want Kris to worry until there was something to worry about.  As the day progressed the head cold started to subside a bit but I'm not fooled.  I may be feeling better now but I'm also feeling feverish so actually, I'm not well at all.  I'm  isolating myself from Don as much as possible by not preparing his meals and sleeping in the guest room. 

In the evening, Kris called and I was caught off-guard.  She knew I was seeing the doctor and since I had not called, she checked in on how I was feeling.  And just like that, I told her about being tested for Covid.  Jeeze.  

So the cat was out of the bag and there was no putting it back.  I told her I had not meant to tell her and why and she was so "Really? Seriously?  There's always a workaround."  All I wanted to do was avoid worry for her and she was so damn grown up about it.  I'm so proud of her.  By the way, she gets the workaround business from me and my There Is Always A Plan B philosophy.

So I'll call Erin tomorrow and tell her Kris knows.  And, with any luck, I'll have an answer  by Friday.  I truly think I don't have Covid in my future but I get taking the precautions so like other bumps that have occurred in my life, I just roll with it.

August 25th

Well, a day doesn't get more sideways than this one.  I woke up at 4 a.m. to the sound of something dropping to the floor.  I thought it was the just another suction cup failure on the safety handle in our shower.  By the time I woke up and unscattered myself, Don had made it into the bathroom on his hands and knees.  It was HE who had dropped, not the safety handle.  Now very alert at 4 a.m., I stood by as he managed to finally leave the bathroom and get into the living-room.  He was still very ill, nauseous, and just not feeling quite right.  It was bad enough that he told me to call 911.  

Okay.  This just does not happen. The last time we used 911 for him he was in agony with what turned out to be a burst appendix.  That is when the fear really kicked in for me.  Here I was, one day into Covid testing quarantine and all I knew was that if Don ended up in the hospital, I would not be able to be with him.  I was frozen with fear.  No family near me.  Now 5:45 a.m. and the ambulance was gone.  

I finally called my friend and neighbor, Glenda.  Of course, my call awoke her but she called me back and I discovered that Glennie was truly God's tool at work helping me to get to a place a calm.

Eventually it all sorted itself out and he was released to return home in much better condition that he had arrived in.  I successfully navigate the 30 minute drive to a hospital in Arkansas, a place I had never been before and discovered a new found confidence in my ability to drive around in this area.  This was something that I have been sorely lacking.

August 25th

I'M NEGATIVE. Thank you, thank you, thank you, God.

August 26th

We went to Dr. Bernard today for a follow up on Don's Tuesday morning excitement and a Z-Pack for me.  I'm better with the head cold and so ready to feel normal again.  Different story for Don.  Dr. Bernard is suspicious and filled with an abundance of caution.  The man is nothing if not thorough.  He is thinking TIA event and is arranging for Don to have a stress test with a cardiologist.  I'm not quite sure what this might all mean.  Perhaps something. Perhaps, in the end, nothing and it was all just a horrible case of eating food that should have been tossed.  We'll see.

Anyway - tomorrow is Friday and the fury that is Hurricane Laura will hit us soon.  Lots of rain will be upon us for several days and winds 10-20 mph (not so bad)  I won't have to worry about my one remaining tree.  But we'll be enjoying lots of thunder and lightning. Ugh.

Haiku My Heart

 

The struggles of youth

Contrast with age's soft laurels

I arrive unscathed.

What I believe

George Bernard Shaw said “An election is a moral horror, as bad as battle except for the blood; a mud bath for every soul concerned in it."  He was right.  I’ve been reflecting on weight topics for years and in the last ten years, since retirement, I’ve come to a simple conclusion:  Keep It Simple.  Weighty issues usually can be understood as moral issues and my default position is the Ten Commandments. 

I was a registered Democrat for many years.  I think back on that time and I realize that the Democratic party of my youth really stood for something particularly in the area of civil rights.  I wonder how Kennedy would view his party today?  Based on his descendants’ public positions on matter that effect our society, I’m guessing that he would, overall, be considered out of step with the Democrats of today.

And what DO Democrats stand for today?  In a short and by no means conclusive list, they support unlimited LGBTQ rights, same-sex marriage, abortion on demand up to birth and infanticide at a live birth (read that failed abortion), environmental rights over human rights, and free healthcare for all (read that socialism).  The list goes on but these are the hot button issues.  This is a large part of their platform.  Any old-time Democrats today who don’t know this, aren’t paying attention.

Over a period of time, as I became more thoughtful on the best way to approach social problems, I found myself more and more being drawn to the Ten Commandments.  They are really good rules and definitely not guidelines.  There aren’t any ifs, ands, or buts attached to them.  They say what they mean and can be applied to any questions in life.    Eventually, I registered as a Republican and then as an Independent voter.  I studied the candidates and what they said.  I believe it’s important to vote policy and who the best candidate is who lines up with policies I support.  I also studied their supporters and followed the money.  But primarily, the choice came down to this.  An individual running on the Democratic ticket supports the entire platform, much of it which is repugnant.  I could not and now cannot, in conscience, vote for anyone running on the Democratic party ballot.

I had a conversation recently with a couple of my friends and I tried to sort out the conflicting information that I feel comes from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops statements.  I also am becoming more and more guided by the inconsistencies of what priests are saying publicly.  Who will I choose as my guide since apparently the USCCB is basically leaving it up to me.  The Father James Martin’s of our Catholic world are unnerving.  And they go unchecked.  We need more brave priests such as  Fr. John Lankeit of Ss Simon & Jude in Phoenix, AZ.   His video at HERE .  This video makes a strong statement about the sort of forthright speech we need to hear from the pulpit today.  We need to be reminded that there is a clear right and a clear wrong.  We much learn how to recognize that which is intrinsically evil.

After talking with my two friends, I share this conclusion:

We bear both a privilege and a burden to exercise our formed and informed conscience and make choices that will and do affect the future of our country. The exercise of conscience and good judgment, however, is not merely something that faithful citizens take out and dust off every four years in anticipation of voting in presidential elections. The judicious adult is one who lives a discerning life, recognizing that, as the Greek philosopher Pythagoras maintained, "Choices are the hinges of destiny." What we decide determines what we do, which determines who we are — as individuals, as a faith community and as a nation. Vote policy, not person. Vote the greater good. Vote for that person who greater advances life and tranquility of order in all stages of life.

 

Vote life and you CANNOT fail to serve all in the very best way possible.

 

Changes

I had high hopes for my book "A California Girl Meets the Bootheel" when I published in October.  Sales where steady, if not brisk and my website was easy to use.  Then the Corona Virus landed and all my plans came to a halt.  I couldn't use my site effectively because I couldn't promote my book as I wanted to.  

Then I started  a secondary plan and suddenly the possibility of promoting my book arose in another way.  I am now selling 4 x 6 photo cards, and matted images at local craft fairs and at a local flower shop.   The Mississippi River is just blocks from my doorstep and the river traffic offers endless views of this watery transportation highway.  

With the advent of this new activity, I deleted ny book focused website, my book focus Facebook page, and plan to get rid of my domain name I purchased through name.com.  Now I can start all over again with a brand new plan.  

The possibilities are limitless.