Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

Our older son, his wife and son may have to evacuate from fire kicked up yesterday. Their air is bad, and for them, it's deja vu, as fire came within a mile of them a couple of years ago, and now it's about three miles away. The stress is horrible, and though they will come and stay at our younger daughter's rental studio, if they have to, the terror of leaving all your valuables, packing up the cat, and worrying that all your effort in painting, gardening etc can be gone in a moment. My husband and I went to the cabin overnight this weekend, and avoided the scorching temperatures here, but today it was well over ninety, and with gusty winds at times, the thing we fear. I can't get a break from worrying, and I'm not alone. There is a pile up effect of covid, the news, the fires, and the struggles of my friends and family. Nothing to do but pray, which I am.

Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

It's challenging to stay positive when in one day Trump reiterates his refusal to step down if he is defeated in the election and Breonna Taylor was murdered but not by anyone. Trump is insane and it is strange indeed that the bullet that hit the wall is evidence of wrongdoing, but all the other bullets are ignored, including the ones that killed an innocent woman. It's about as weird as women going to prison for life for defending themselves against their husbands who were battering them or the husbands who ask and are granted custody of children whose mother has had her arm or leg broken or been hospitalized by this same man. Battering a child's mother is not my idea of a suitable scene for a child to witness and to have that father granted the power to terrify his kids with impunity is the reverse of the term "child protection". It's a crazy world, where logic, reason, science and compassion are ridiculed in favor of maintaining power and fear over others. My mystery I'm reading is not as convoluted as the world I'm living in.

Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

I'm pretty touched by the lace collars worn by NBA basketball players in honor of Ruth Bader Ginsberg. I sense an acknowledgement of their mothers and grandmothers as well. When these big tough guys can be that sensitive, it bodes well for their relationships with women in their lives, and sets an example of what true masculinity can be. And the humor in it is so welcome right now, with everyone screaming at each other and a dogfight being made out of RBG's vacant seat. Let's all get in touch with our feminine side, the one that's tough and persistent and compassionate and won't back down. Let's all stand up and be counted, and be proud of being nasty women.

Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

Notorious RBG is gone, and many are devastated. She was an inspiration to a lot of women and girls, and though we are not surprised, it is a blow among so many others right now. I think first of my twelve year old granddaughter and fifteen year old foster granddaughter. She was bound to be more historical myth for them than present fact. But her absence on the Supreme Court leaves their fates in the hands of mainly white males. Why can we not gain any kind of appropriate representation? We're not fighting hard enough. The Women's Marches, the activism, Moms Rising, all the passionate defenders of the ERA, the Feminist Majority, why are we not persuasive? We have followed hook line and sinker our own devaluation. And we have legitimate fears. We fear men because they, especially loved ones, are the most likely to kill us, to take away money for food, hold children hostage, and denigrate us over and over. Liberation has to go hand in hand with protection against domestic violence. I've fought most of my life for victims, but we need to have REAL early childhood education and alerts, so that women hear that abuse is not acceptable and that there are alternatives. Look at the verbal abuse being heaped upon Kamala Harris, just as it was with Hilary Clinton. Speak up, speak out, and demonstrate that women are worth valuing and protecting. RBG did. Now let's take up the mantle.

Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

Another day of blue skies, and boy, do we appreciate it these days. And up north is going to get rain, so their air will clear. I am in a pod again with one of our kids, his wife and our grandson, and that feels great. We are babysitting the grandson today again. And yesterday I took a social distance walk in masks with my daughter and her baby, and we got to talk a bit. Her older boy is loving preschool, so her decision to start him seems to have been wise, and it gives her a break from two little boys, since her husband has long hours working from home and can only give her a break on weekends. Tonight we're going to have dinner delivered here with our son and though I don't miss eating out, I miss eating WITH. So we'll eat together the 5 of us. And if the air is okay tomorrow we're driving up to eat social distanced outside with our older son, his wife, and son. All this socializing! I'm in heaven1

Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

It was great air today, and we babysit our 16 month old grandson and had fun with him, and we get to see our younger son and his wife. I felt really happy, even though because our daughter-in-law works for Save the Redwoods, we heard a piece of land they had just bought burned to the ground. They've had a lot of heartbreak seeing protected areas be devastated. I was going to say we are still not out of the woods, and ironically, that's exactly right. Our bad fire month is October, so lots of bad things can happen, but I'm praying they won't. The air was horrible again where our granddaughter and son-in-law live, and no end in sight. But I'm going to be grateful for a happy day today for me, and pray for the rest. I won't forget. None of us can. But we got to take a walk today. And it felt wonderful.

Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

I just spent an hour talking to my childhood best friend, and we covered the gamut: the Post Office, the election, her brother, her boyfriend, the fires, and lots of book recommendations. Our discussions are fun and cheerful, and when she said it looked like it was going to rain there, I suggested she send it to us here. I know she would if she could. We aren't really much alike, but we feel like we're sisters, and you don't shake that. She has an older brother, and I had a younger brother, so essentially, we were sisters. Her life is of great importance to me, and I know mine is to her. Luckily, we both grew up on phone calls, so that method is comfortable, and it's like I'm twelve years old again. Comfort. Familiarity, trust, love.