As an arbiter of all things figurative, I sense that my country is on the other half of a semicolon, yet I continually remind myself that our now is one sentence in a sea of syntax. There will be plenty of continuation regardless of what ends and what is birthed.

Like many others, I’m having to pull myself away from any media that resembles news. The headlines, the memes, the facts that are opinions (and the facts that are facts), the comments (whether human or not) are overbearing. I’m emotionally bruised (gashed might be a better word) by it all.

I have so much I’d like to comment on, but there’s no need to post it here — it’s nothing someone else hasn’t already said. My only commentary on today’s headlines will be to remind those who vilify the thousands of people being ‘fired,’ to take a good, hard look in the mirror because you are slinging shit at people just like you. Many of those who lost their jobs (whether through alleged cost cutting or decimation of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) have worked hard to get to where they are, and they were proud to do their work because it meant something (please put yourself in check before you jump to judgement on that as well). Now, they are without a salary or health insurance (a fate, in America, that could be worse than unemployment). They will be competing among each other (and you) to find a way back to stability; all while being branded unworthy. Our fellow citizens are not the enemy, although if we keep up with this vitriol, we may as well change our name to the States of America because we’ve blasted away any sense of United.

Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, let’s transition back to embracing the magic in living. While all this chaos and change is going on, we’re still in the midst of our normal lives. I’m still surrounded by so much love, awe and gratitude. Lately, I’ve neglected to post snapshots of my joy, so let me end with a blast of some fun photos of the magic in my life (and, yeah, I know Christmas was two months ago, but whatevs).

So, here’s to living! And doing the things that matter with our people who matter.

Maybe the best way to beat the uglies is to follow that comma with an exclamation point! Hugs and cheers to all of you. We’ve got this, and we will continue to move forward in our own ways.