Welcome to a brand new month. Tomorrow, I have a kind of spine-tingling story of a couple of dates that coincide this weekend that I think you’ll appreciate. I’m off to see another movie today, so next week we’ll talk I, Tonya and Lady Bird. Lots to share with you. My must-see recommendation for this weekend is still Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Powerful, filled with redemption and empathy. Surprises at every turn. Everything a Best Picture ought to be.
 
I wanted to take a moment to thank you once again for sharing a bit of your day here reading or listening to our adventures, thoughts, musings and just everyday things. Some days and weeks are harder when it comes to inspiration and often I’ll sit at my keyboard, letting the reflexology take over as my fingers (or more aptly, my fingernails) tap at the letters and send energy and ideas to this brain of mine.
 
Some days what comes out is whimsical, some days a little more pointed. I worry about offending (as I did yesterday with my thoughts on what “politically correct” really means) but this should be a place where I’m safe to speak my mind. 
 
And some days it’s just to vent. 
 
I tweeted after the State of the Union address on Tuesday (which I could not watch, but for which I scoured coverage on various channels afterwards) that if screaming at the TV was cardio, I’d be a size two.
 
When he’s not questioning if he heard what he thinks he heard, Rob sits and sighs; he’s long given up trying to persuade me to look away if I can’t stand the flat-out lying and deception that passes as leadership in the US these days. There are moments of hope, of course, as someone – however briefly – has the spine to call Trump out, but that never lasts. Every time the Mueller investigation seems to be gathering steam, someone gets fired or something leaks and things appear to fall a few squares back. Obstruction is everywhere, families are being destroyed and idiocy reigns. So why do I care so much?
 
There was a scene in This is Us last season that brought home why I’m so angry about Trump and every day that he is in charge. It’s because it’s simply not fair. He did not win the popular vote. He won based on an antiquated system that was meant to appease the southern states after the civil war handed them their backsides on a big ol’ plate. And as we’re seeing more and more clearly every day, Russia played a role in his victory and Hillary’s loss. It was not fair.
 
The This is Us scene I’m referring to saw Mandy Moore’s character having a meltdown in a grocery store when someone else got the last onion – the one she’d been about to choose before one of her babies fussed in the stroller. She lost her temper at the woman and the produce manager and ended up in tears about something that was seemingly trivial. But what it came down to was her anger and pain about losing her baby. It wasn’t fair. And that stupid onion (teary metaphor, anyone?) was just the straw the broke her spirit that day. 
 
For me, the unfairness of Lauren’s death, the rug being pulled out from under our lives in so very many ways, is something I can’t rage about every day. But what’s happening in the news every day? That’s something I can wrap my rage around. So pardon my rants – it’s just me getting through another day. 
 
And thank you again.