I can't believe it's Nov. already! in Tea at the Cabin in the Woods

The world has changed so quickly and the weather is following suit. Today it is a blustery day - even showed of clip of Winnie the Pooh’s Blustery Day for my class this morning. We all needed a little levity. Life in our United States does not even look like the life I had a young person anymore. I never saw such bullish behaviors in a political year as happened this year. Yet, in all the changes in peoples acceptance of unacceptable behaviors - on both sides - and the drastic reactions to the outcome of the election - again on both sides - I still feel as if we can get through this.

It is important to remember the United States has 3 branches of government to keep the checks and balances so no single person could come in and turn our country into a dictatorship. I have to believe those systems will keep the rest of us in mind during the transition and through the next 4 years. It has been hard being a Bernie Sanders supporter to accept an alternative and many of his supporters really struggled with how to cast their vote. America is a country in turmoil and there are many individuals who have lost sight of this country was founded on, how it has evolved and how wonderful we really are. Yes, we are arrogant and abrasive to other countries at times - and Americans are some of the worst tourist in the world, carrying around that smug attitude of entitlement when in other countries. I watched how rude some of my fellow Americans were to people as I was traveling and was embarrassed for all of us. We need to do better. No, We need to BE BETTER. I am ashamed, saddened, and confused as how this country was able to have two candidates who were so incredibly flawed, run for the highest office of our land. What have we done wrong? What do we need to do to fix this mess? I am open to suggestions.

Enough of my ramblings on that.
On the up side! My granddaughter is now 16 mos. old and adorable. AND we just learned that our daughter is pregnant with her first child. That was a real shocker, since we never saw that coming and she hasn’t been with this new boyfriend very long - since August I think… But they both have told us that they feel right about each other and the baby. I can’t ask for more than that. We haven’t heard if they plan on getting married, or even live together in the near future. She said she hasn’t even given him a key to her apartment yet. But this is the child of mine that never did anything traditional, and so, why should she change now? I have to say I have never seen her so happy and settled. She is in a really good place in her life, her head and bank account. He is a solid young man with a great job he loves, makes good money, is looking for a house for his “new family”, and he adores my daughter. Maybe, just maybe this will work out fine. What a roller coaster of emotions this week.

To top all that off - Leonard Cohen died yesterday. A musical icon for my generation. My colleague, who shares an office wall with me (a very thin wall mind you) has been playing his music all day, sitting in his office with a long face and sad expression, sighing occasionally in his grief. I am about to turn on a really upbeat CD to drown his music out. Maybe a little Matt Borrello (out of the Boston area) will do the trick.

I have missed you all and I am about to get back my life and catch up with all of you - instead of grading all these papers on my desk, piled on the floor around my desk, trying to escape the pocket of my backpack… yep, they can wait. :-) We’ll talk soon.