Not Much Going On

Every day I've been asking myself if I should write a blog entry and every day I conclude that I have nothing to write about.  Life has been pretty boring this week.  I guess the country as a whole has been tumultuous, considering the election this week.  However, if there's one thing I've seen time and time again, it's that my daily life changes very little regardless of who is in the White House.  I didn't really care who won because I hate both Trump and Biden.  I actively researched all the third party candidates naively assuming that there must be a quality individual among them.  I wanted desperately to find someone I could actively support.  After spending hours researching, I came to the conclusion that they would all be terrible presidents.  There wasn't one single person I could feel good about voting for.  So, the election held little interest for me and my life went on as usual.  Christian's teacher actively involved the class on election day and had them watching the polls online and following the trends.  Consequently, Christian had it pulled up on his laptop for two days straight, filling me in whenever a state declared they'd counted 100% of the votes or when a candidate gained electoral votes.  I was happy to see him so interested in current events and it made for some good conversations.  However, I think the thing I liked best this week was the letter Bill Clinton received from Pres. Bush Sr. in 1993.  Bill read it on the news this week and I thought it was wonderful.  

Jan 20, 1993

Dear Bill,

When I walked into this office just now I felt the same sense of wonder and respect that I felt four years ago. I know you will feel that, too.

I wish you great happiness here. I never felt the loneliness some Presidents have described.

There will be very tough times, made even more difficult by criticism you may not think is fair. I'm not a very good one to give advice; but just don't let the critics discourage you or push you off course.

You will be our President when you read this note. I wish you well. I wish your family well.

Your success now is our country's success. I am rooting hard for you.

Good luck — George

If only Trump had half as much grace.  I mean, actually there's been far less violence than I thought there'd be if Trump lost, but I hate that he can simply never admit that he's wrong or that he lost.  I see large Trump supporter rallies on the streets and, of course, the internet is aflame with calls for a recount.  I guess we'll see how long this lasts.

Anyway, the bigger news around here is that the leaf trucks finally came through today and cleaned up the leaves. :)  I've been starting to wonder if they'd ever come.  The piles in the street always turn our street into a one lane road and it was getting difficult to drive.  I had been in the back yard with Peter when I heard them and so I wheeled him in the cozy coupe around to the front and we watched the trucks for about 30 minutes.  It was  a thrilling show for him.  He loved it and was riveted the whole time.  Several neighbors came out to watch too.  The ones across the street brought out lawn chairs.  Everyone was out watching like it was the 4th of July parade.  It was a block party and it was a fun, Covid friendly community gathering.  It was also a very telling indicator of just how unbelievably bored and stir-crazy we all are.  

There is nowhere to go nowadays thanks to Covid, so I am stuck at home A LOT with Peter and sometimes I just get so bored!  Every day we read books, play piano, play playdoh, and play in the backyard.  Then it's time to repeat it all again.  Some days I get depressed and antsy and want to cry for the way things used to be.  Friday, to combat the depression, I took Peter to Meijer's toy department and let him play to his heart's content.  They discourage that sort of thing nowadays, but I didn't care. He was so cute.  He found a couple ride-on toys and spent the entire trip on one or the other.  He loved them.

Any day that the weather is still good, I take Peter out for a run.  Today I took Bella and Christian out too.  They didn't want me to run, though.  They just wanted to walk. So we walked the path through the woods at the end of our street.  It was really nice to be out together.  Now that the middle and high schools have shut back down due to Covid, I hope to get Bella walking with me more often before the snow comes.

Later God blessed me with the discovery of a new forest area.  I was watching a sermon from a local mega-church and the pastor was broadcasting from a forest.  He invited his parishioners to join him in the woods behind the church after the service for a walk and discussion.  I had no idea there was such a large section of woods behind that church.  After I was sure the church group had cleared out, I took Christian and Peter over there.  I was amazed!  15 years I've been scouring this area for hiking trails and I was certain I'd found them all.  What a wonderful gift.  There were miles and miles of trails and it was such a perfect day. 70 degrees in November!?!?  We had a wonderful time. Christian had a story going the whole time about how a queen had sent us on this quest and we had to ...... I'm not sure of the rest.  In any case, this little lean-to structure fit right into this story and he proceeded to climb inside and "mine diamonds."  Peter was more than happy to help.  Together they constructed the ultimate weapon which he used all along the trail to fight various goblins and ogres and to repair bridges that would have surely collapsed as we crossed.  In the end, we completed the quest and saved the kingdom.  And we did it all before the 5pm sunset deadline!  We rock.