Holding in the Light

After the election, life goes on.

In the words of ee cummings, “The single secret will still be man.” I have faith in those people who see the need for all of us to sit at the table. It is my responsibility as a human being to help support those who need it to the best of my ability. This has not changed, but maybe I see the need more acutely because people around me are scared and hurting.

I have gone back to a practice I lost along the way when I became complacent, and that is holding people in the Light. It is a Quaker practice, and I am a Quaker (an agnostic, but that’s possible in the Religious Society of Friends). I am holding my country in the light, those who oppose what I stand for as well as those I stand with. (I stand with those who are marginalized). Because holding someone in the Light does not mean they will prosper, it means the hope that they will see the Light.

I don’t know if I believe in God, but I believe that my holding in the Light creates changes in me so I can see where to work for good. I don’t know if I believe it will move other people. Yet I do it, not knowing what else to do.

The Election

I’m speechless. America will not be great again.

Election Day

I just voted. Now to pray … and I’m not even religious.

Language Arts

Daily writing prompt

What was your favorite subject in school?

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It should be of no surprise that my favorite class in school was what we called ‘English’, or more properly, ‘language arts’. This was a catch-all phrase that included classes in grammar, literature, and writing. As a child, I loved writing and reading, and I even loved grammar, although that came naturally to me.

I have to admit I didn’t often pay attention in class during reading. In younger grades, we would take turns reading out loud. The class didn’t read fast enough for me, and I would read ahead. When it was my turn to read, the teacher would have to direct me back to whatever page we were reading. Most of my teachers didn’t yell at me for not paying attention because they knew I was reading ahead.

I discovered that I loved to write in third grade, when my teacher taught a unit on poetry. In third grade, then, I was writing poetry forms that were way over my head — simple rhymes were easy, but she had us writing haiku, limericks, and once even tried a diamante form. And I went along with it and wrote these to the best of my ability. A third grader’s diamante leaves a little to be desired. And the limerick:

A lion lived in a zoo
with a tiger, a bear, and a gnu.
“I can scare three or more,”
said the lion with a roar.
And the gnu said, “Shame shame on you!”

Don’t ask me how I remember a poem I wrote in third grade. I don’t remember the longer Groundhog Day poem that my teacher posted on the front door of the classroom, mercifully.

Language arts was the class I looked forward to every day. It’s not surprising given my love of words even today.

Recommending Cats

Daily writing prompt

What is good about having a pet?

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I have three cats at the current moment, and have had many cats over the years, so I feel like I can answer this authoritatively. The best thing about having cats is the companionship. They are furry, friendly little creatures who want to share your life with you. Sometimes. Right now they’re making themselves scarce, only to get particularly chummy when I’m in the middle of a project.

They also provide lots of humor. Chuckie, our big orange cat, entertains with his total cluelessness. Chloe (the black cat in this picture) is just weird. For example, she goes crazy when Richard sneezes, chattering and running about as if she needs reassurance that he has not released demons into the world.

The best thing about a cat, though, is that you can’t take them for granted. They’re there when they want to be, not necessarily when you want them to be. They’re autonomous creatures with their own agendas. So, when they want to spend time with you, you know they’re there because they want to be. Or because they want food. Or because you’re busy with something else — they’re perverse little creatures.

I’d definitely recommend a cat.

I Need Energy More Than Time

Daily writing prompt

Do you need time?

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Do I need time? I’ll be honest — I don’t think I need more time. I would be really efficient with my time I had if I had more energy.

Right now, I’ve gotten up a half-hour ago. I just got done with breakfast and I am sitting at my computer writing. But am I awake? No, I feel like I could drowse off to sleep any minute. I have fallen asleep sitting at my computer.

Too many times I feel like my ‘get up and go’ has got up and went. If I had more energy, I would surf the internet less and do more. I would spend part of today going through my books for sale to prepare for the authors fair at the library in early December. I would get my daily words done with no recalcitrance. I would not have the overwhelming desire to go back to bed.

As I say this, I realize I don’t want that much more energy. I have bipolar disorder (type II). It’s under control, but it hasn’t always been. I had a lot of energy when in my hypomanic states. I got no more done because I couldn’t focus, but I started a lot of projects. So maybe I don’t want more energy. Or at least not much more.

First Snow — A Lost Holiday

Daily writing prompt

Invent a holiday! Explain how and why everyone should celebrate.

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I’ve already invented a holiday, although I don’t really celebrate it any more, because as I’ve gotten older, it’s become harder to get anyone to buy into it. Also, some years I don’t get to celebrate it at all, or not until late, for reasons you will see in a bit.

My holiday is called First Snow. And it’s exactly what it sounds like — it celebrates the first substantial snow of the season. That’s defined as enough snowfall that the grass is mostly obscured and it will still be there in the morning. Flurries aren’t enough if they don’t cover the ground.

To celebrate it, one must have snow. The celebrants can do this either indoors with a bowl of snow or outdoors. When I was younger and more durable, my friends and I would sit outside in the snow.

One must also have a mug of something to drink. This has varied over the years from hot chocolate to blackberry brandy. The idea is to pass around the mug and drink toasts, and the first toast is always “To the snow”. As the toasts go on, it’s harder to find things to drink toasts to, and that’s part of the point, to get creative with the toasts. When the mug is empty, it’s refilled until the participants run out of toasts. The last swallow of each mug is emptied into the ground. The idea is not to get drunk, so generally alcoholic first snows don’t last as long.

Like I said, I don’t celebrate this anymore. As an older adult, I have grown impatient with the need to figure out whether there’s enough snow, and too shy to ask others to inconvenience themselves on a busy evening. It’s an ill-advised holiday when one is no longer a student with the semi-communal life of unmarried friends. But while it lasted, it was a bonding experience with my friends.

Get Off My Lawn

My mother once said that ‘growing old was hell.’ I admit, my knees and hip are giving me trouble, and I’m not as flexible as I used to be, and I would welcome a good nap right now, but hell? It’s too interesting to be hell.

I find myself saying and doing all the things I said I wouldn’t when I was younger. Reminisce about old technologies and the music I loved as a child? Check. Complain that things aren’t like they used to be? Check. Complain about aches and pains? Check. I have, to my credit, never said “Get off my lawn” except in jest.

There are things I wanted to do when I was younger that I would not be caught dead doing today: skydiving, going on a rollercoaster, looking down great heights. Now I can’t bring myself to do these.

I’m less spontaneous than I used to be, more deliberate. More patient, which surprises me, because I’ve never been a patient person. Maybe it’s because I have survived everything.

Having survived everything, I have advice for the younger generation, something else I never thought I’d have: Don’t worry about aging. It’s not that bad.

A Chance of Tornadoes

Today is going to be a bad weather day in Maryville, according to the weather forecast. We are at a 10% chance for bad weather, and there may even be tornadoes in the mix. Tornadoes? It’s almost November!

Photo by Ralph W. lambrecht on Pexels.com

I guess some people call tornadoes ‘cyclones’; pretty much the same thing. A severely hazardous storm typified by a wind vortex. The standard operating procedure for a tornado is to go to the basement, for presumably the walls in the basement don’t collapse on you. There’s also less danger of being hit by flying glass. If you don’t have a basement, choose an internal room on the first floor without windows, which is often a bathroom.

I remember life before extremely accurate weather forecasting. We generally didn’t know a tornado was passing by until the tornado showed up, and then the civil defense warning would be broadcast on our tv. Then the siren would go off (this was usually the siren summoning our volunteer firefighters to an incident.)

Today, we have a fire siren in town to warn us if a tornado is imminent. But we also have our weather forecasts, our phones and the watch/warning system. We can prepare a day in advance; I know the expected time for severe storms and I can plan accordingly.

It’s interesting to look at today and reminisce about how life has changed. I guess that makes me an old person (*sigh*).