This week made me want to delete social media altogether. Some of my friends were very angry at the results and posted a lot of hate towards opposing views. I would not consider myself a “Trumper” but after studying up on the policies that each candidate stood for (or failed to make a stance altogether) I decided he was the best option on that ballot. I don’t love Trump. I think he is narcissistic, tactless, and sometimes chauvinistic. But, unfortunately, my options were pretty limited and I see so many of my friends struggling to pay their grocery bills. My good friend said, “It is frustrating when we’ve made more than we’ve ever made before, but somehow we are struggling more than we ever have.” I think and hope that Trump will be better for our economy, monitoring immigration, and even strengthening foreign relations (though I felt that was one of his weaknesses before, but with the way things have gone the last four years, I think the world powers may be more willing to work with him now). With all of our differences in the parties, I hope that we can find more common ground. That we all genuinely want our nation to be safe for all, financially flourishing, and our freedoms protected. I am deeply grateful that I live in a nation where women have as many rights as men, where every citizen, regardless of race or gender, can vote. I hope that as those who feel disheartened by the loss of their candidate can strive to reach common ground and appreciate that we have all had a chance to have our voices heard. I hear a lot of people “threatening” to move to another country. To them I say, good luck. I don’t think there is another country in the world that offers more protections and freedoms to women in addition to the many government run programs that give our children free education, civil protection, access to information with no censorship, and more. I recently read a book about WWI titled, “Lines of Courage.” It was a beautiful book that addressed WWI from a character on each side of the war. It humanized the enemy and also made me realize how grateful that despite the trials I have faced, I’ve never relied on turnip soup for sustenance. So many suffered during that war far worse than any one in the United States did or has. The Great Depression is the only time in US history, that I’m aware of, where many went hungry, but for the most part, we have been coddled and protected. I hope that we can remain worthy of that protection, because I believe it is from God and I believe it is based on the righteousness of the majority. I welcome immigrants. Our country was built on them. I hope that we can create a system that makes immigration easier for those who are contributing to our society and economy and filters out those who intend to come here to do harm.
Andy and Max had their last football game of the season. They were at a disadvantage for a few reasons. 1) Their team was physically the smallest in the league. 2) They were numerically smallest in the league– between lack of sign ups for the Evans team and drop outs (and possibly the hurricane causing some to not be able to come back), they were playing with 11-15 players. 3) Many of the other teams had played many years together, while a lot of Andy’s team were playing for the very first time. I have to say, though, I’m very proud of the progress each of those boys made. They made their first touch down on their last game and it was well-earned.
Andy and I attended John Crist, Jokes for Humans. His openers were just as hilarious as he was. He said some jokes that were politically daring, but none of them were crass. I was impressed at how clean his humor was considering how dirty most comedians get. We had a lot of really good laughs. I highly recommend his tour, but if you get easily offended about political humor, then it’s probably not your scene.
We had family pictures with our good friend Steph Secrist. I’m sure she did a great job. I haven’t gotten her pictures back yet, but here are some of our crew from our phone.
