Thursday, September 11, 2014

Rainy Days, My Congressmen, and ISIS Really Get Me Down

Enough already! Could the torrential rain please stop in Kentucky?  Flash flood warnings, impassable roads, and flooding basements (including my own) have become so common, we have forgotten what a normal rain event feels like around here. We smashed some daily and monthly rainfall records in August, last night, and every day, or so it seems. It is getting a bit moldy and mildewy as everything is a bit soggy around here. My garden is full of tomatoes that never got their time to shine, pun intended, and rot claimed them.  For a gardener, food rotting on the vine is pretty depressing, let me tell ya.

And I have a confession to make.  Okay, let's be real, I have a lot of those but I will let you in on just one of them today; I did not watch Obama address the nation about ISIS last night.  

And make no mistake, it is not that I think that ISIS, whom I refer to as "It's Satan!,It's Satan!", isn't worthy of my attention and concern (did I tell you I am a Presbyterian and we don't talk about Satan much, although we probably should, but let's just say that Dana Carvey and the Church Lady were not Presbyterian). ISIS is truly a horrifying nightmare to everyone on this planet, not just Christians and democracies. 



It's not that I don't like Obama, in fact the contrary it true, I proudly cast my vote for him twice and I sing his praises to anyone who will listen (did I tell you I am a classically trained soprano? so it isn't my singing that is the problem).  But those that want to hear the truth, or talk about substantive topics at all, are few and far between these days.  Our society has little tolerance for serious discourse and as a result of this, those chickens will come home to roost one day, typically in the form of a world war. 

And while many of you have most likely not watched a live Presidential address to the nation in years, I RARELY miss them.  I am ashamed of myself. Instead of listening to the leader of the free world explain his plan of dealing with this hell on earth, I went to bed. Yep, I did, I went to bed at 9pm (and my 4 year old joined me 30 minutes later, and my husband put the 4 year old back in her bed, and came to bed himself most likely around 11 but I digress...).  

Fear not, I told myself, fortunately we live in the digital age, right?  With 24/7 media coverage, not only could I find 10 different replays of his address this morning, if I looked hard enough on YouTube I could likely find a parody of it to the tune of the latest Taylor Swift song, Shake it Off. This song is kind of catchy.  You can watch the video on YouTube here ----->, Shake it off .  (did I tell you there were 12 years of my life that I wore tutus and danced en pointe like the ballerinas in that video? Don't believe me, here's proof!)  



Anywho, fundamentally you have to understand that I am am one of those "Be the change you want to see in the world" kind of gals.  And last night, all I was concerned about was when the sheets were changed last and that is shameful I tell you, shameful.  What has happened to me?!

I think what has happened is I am a tired mother of small children who pays attention and can't turn her brain off.  And because I was raised by liberals, and am a card carrying one myself, I care deeply about not only my corner of the world but every corner of the world (did I tell you some of my best friends are conservative Republicans, including the guy I have been sleeping with for 18 years?).

I am not one to typically bail when the misery index of the world reaches outrageous levels but the sadness of 9/11, the legitimate fear of "It's Satan!, It's Satan!", my Congressional representation in Washington (did I tell you that Kentucky really needs to ditch Mitch?), and the continued flash flooding in Kentucky is making me crazy.  And when the going gets tough, the crazy go to bed, or she did last night.

Eh, in time I am sure I will just shake it off as the "haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, but I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake" (if you are lost, watch the video!). And if you are a Kentuckian, for the love of anything and everything, vote for Alison.