2019

   2018 was a wild year...but 2019 was just a hot mess.

   The political spectrum has certainly taken front stage this year, with a shutdown continuing from before Christmas all the way up to late January...and the purpose was apparently to get funding for a border wall. This wall as of now has less than 100 miles constructed. The new Congress convened with a democratic majority, and it has been one circus sideshow after another. First, we had the Mueller report, an investigation that many thought would directlly implicate Donald Trump in wrongdoing in the 2016 election.  In reality, it just created more questions and more doubt, with Mueller himself saying cryptic Yoda-like statements like "MMMMM, a crime committed may have happened. Commit, I cannot."

   From there, we had a bizarre reincarnation in a way of the Watergate break-in with 2 bumbling crooks working for Rudy Giuliani in some apparent extortion attempt upon the Ukraine. From there, it escalated into our current impeachment against Donald Trump. I pledged months ago to keep my political opinions private and I continue that pledge. That said, I know that Trump says a lot of stupid shit on Twitter and at his rallies. With the former, he's emptying his head garbage for his fans, and with the latter, he's doing it in person. As yet I have seen nothing that proves the guilt of Trump beyond a shadow of a doubt. In the case of Congress, I want to believe they believe in what they are doing for the PEOPLE and not political benefit...the 2 are usually mutually exclusive.

   In the world of celebrity losses, we had quite a few: James Ingram, Toni Morrison, Doris Day, Robert Forster, our own Chewbacca, Peter Mayhew, Peggy Lipton, Carol Channing, Tim COnway, Rip Torn, Ross Perot, Luke Perry, Lee Iacocca, Dihann Carroll, Valerie Harper, Georgia Engel, Peter Tork, Leon Redbone, Jan Michael Vincent, Albert Finney, Gloria Vanderbilt, Peter Fonda, Sid Haig, Eddie Money, Beth Chapman, Rip Taylor, Dr. John, Rene Auberjonois, Caroll Spinney, Ron Leibman, and Danny Aiello, just to name a wide sample.

   Violence certainly took front stage this year in the form of mass shootings and family violence. It is a strange country we live in, where funding gun rights is more important than funding mental health. That is not a statement against gun owners, for the ones I know are responsible people.  As I look around at the closings of stores and shrinking of restaurant eating space, I see at least part of the problem: social isolation. The more people are away from other people, especially strangers, some strange thoughts can happen. When you don't have an authentic person to communicate with, unauthentic texts and information can easily replace that, creating a dangerous patsy on behalf of an invisible cult leader.

   In my world, I spent the last year teaching first grade, then there was an uncertain summer where I did not know what I was going to be doing. Two weeks before the year began, I learned that I was doing 5th grade. As the year began, I also had a medical procedure to worry about in terms of kidney stone removal. Once that (non) ordeal was done, we got ourselves a 2-day old rescue kitten, for whom we sacrificed sleep for almost the entire month of October. At the end of November, I turned 47. It is a strange age to be and I had trouble figuring out why for a bit. Then I remembered that my parents became grandparents when they were 47. Still, I think I am at a midlife....puzzle, not a crisis. A crisis is an emergency situation. A puzzle allows time to think before acting, and I intend to do something unlike myself and THINK things out before I speak or act...likely it will save me trouble.

   What will 2020 bring? Who knows besides Olympics and an election? For our nation, I hope some stress relief and release without personal harm. For my daughter, I hope middle school in the flal will bring her joyous adventures. For me, I hope to begin a new phase of life, enjoy more time with Vickie, spend less time on social media and more time eating right and exercising more. I also hope for some travle this summer. We did none in 2019 and I think it affected me when the school year began.

Happy 2020!