Responsibility...

I know I have said this before, but I think this bears repeating.

Election Day is coming up on Tuesday, November 4th. This, more than any other election, is so very, very important. We are standing on the edge, my friends. We are standing on the edge of a very big precipice, and what we do on Election Day will determine whether we plunge over the edge, or survive to teeter on it before being able to step back and heave a sigh of relief.

I hope to heavens that those of you old enough have registered to vote. And that you will vote. That you won't sit at home thinking, "Well, someone else is going to vote opposite of the way I vote and that will cancel me out."

Because that is just plain stupid. That isn't the way it works. Trust me. Every single vote COUNTS.

And before you shrug, roll your eyes, and scroll past this entry to look at something far more interesting, I want you to consider three dates.

February 3, 1870.

August 26, 1920.

June 2, 1924.

And what is the significance of these three dates, you may all wonder?

February 3, 1870 is the date the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. And in case you don't understand its significance, read this:

"Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."

This is the amendment that gave African Americans the right to vote following the Civil War and led to African Americans being voted into state legislatures and Congress in never before seen numbers. Of course, it didn't last, because whites found a way to stop them. The "Literacy Laws" were one way. One had to be able to read to vote, and many former slaves were illiterate. However, if one's grandfather had voted, then one was exempt from the test. Of course, very, very few slaves had a grandfather who had voted. Another method was the "Poll Tax" that many states used to keep African Americans from voting. You had to pay a fee to vote. Of course, this also shut a lot of poor whites out of the voting booth, too. It took the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's to remove the last of the barriers that kept African Americans from voting.

August 26, 1920 was the day women in the United States were granted the right to vote by the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. That was only 88 years ago, my dears. My grandmother was in her forties the first time she was legally allowed to vote. Try imagining that, ladies. Imagine listening to your husband, your brothers, uncles, friends, all discussing an upcoming election, and knowing that you have no say in it. Unless you could convince them to vote your way. Which you most likely couldn't. They probably would have patted your shoulder and told you not to worry your pretty little head over it. Imagine not being able to vote NOW. Horrifying, isn't it?

And the last date, June 2, 1924. This was the day the Indian Citizenship Act, also known as the Snyder Act, was signed into law by President Calvin Coolidge. This act finally finally gave citizenship to all Native Americans born in the United States, and thus allowed them the right to vote. Not that they all got it right away. Some states, even as late as 1948, still banned Native Americans from voting. In 1948, it took a Native American World War II veteran to file a lawsuit that went to the state Supreme Court in Arizona to allow Native Americans in that state to vote. In 1956, Utah was the last state to grant Native Americans living in their state the right to vote.

Hundreds of people have gone before you, fighting, protesting, being arrested, harrassed, killed to get you that right to vote. They have been hosed, attacked by police dogs, hit with truncheons, been taken away from their families, shamed, and humiliated... all in the name of getting the right to vote, not for themselves, but for their children, and their children's children. You. You, sitting there in your chair, staring at this screen, thinking maybe you will, but then, maybe you won't, maybe it's not worth the bother. Look into their eyes and tell them that. Tell your grandmother, and your great-grandmother that you're going to be too busy to vote. Or taking an extra nap. Or cleaning out the garage. Tell your great great grandfather, who spent hours huddled over a Bible by the light of a candle stump, teaching himself to read so he could pass the literacy test his state had enacted, in order to vote. So that his son and his grandson would be able to vote later. Tell that to your great great aunt who spent three nights in jail without food, being taunted by guards and other prisoners after protesting for a woman's right to vote, knowing that her husband refused to pay her bail to "teach her a lesson."

It isn't so easy now, is it?

There are a lot of people who say patriotism means "My country right or wrong."

They're wrong.

Patriotism means, "My country right or wrong. When she's right, she's great and I love her. But when she's wrong, I want her fixed, and dammit, if I have to, I will roll up my sleeves and do it myself! Who's with me?"

It doesn't mean following our leaders blindly. It means taking responsibility, and knowing when things have to change. It means getting off your butt and going out to vote. It means getting up at the crack of dawn, because the nearest precinct is a two and a half hour drive away. It means sitting down and doing some research, actually taking time to read the voters guides, then going on to check up on it yourself, checking facts, making notes, and voting for the person you think is best suited to do the job, regardless of party affiliation. There are many ways to serve your country. This is just the most basic of them.

Go out and vote. You've got time now to do your research. Not just about the national elections, but your local elections as well. Educate yourself. Be an informed voter. And remember all those people who have gone before you. They're looking over your shoulder, waiting for you to make their sacrifices worthwhile.

Kid Stuff

Is it me or is it all kinds of wrong that on the way home from school, the Impossible Son and I were bouncing along in the car, singing, "Dooooooon't ask me whyyyyyyyyy... the girlshapedlovedrug messes with my miiiiiind..."

Yeah... that's kinda what I thought!

*merry laughter*

"Doesn't take a genius to realize sometimes life is hard..."

I wanted to post last night, but I was just too wiped out. We made an unexpected trip to Houston yesterday.

It was an emotional roller coaster we were on yesterday. My dad was suddenly much worse, so we dropped everything to go to Houston, even forgetting to call the friend whom we had arranged would keep the kids if we had to suddenly leave.

You know, we should have sent the Impossible Son in to see him the moment we got there. Because Dad was semi-conscious and barely lucid. I got him to open his eyes and to look at me when I came in, talking to him and stroking his face. He answered me, though it was an effort. He's got pneumonia again, and I know how that feels. About forty-five minutes or maybe an hour after we arrived, my mom finally sent the Impertinent Daughter and the Impossible Son in to see him. He opened his eyes for Miss Priss, responded to her when she told him she loved him. But... when Mr. Impossible came up and piped, "Hi Grand-Daddy! I love you. I wish you were awake so I could talk to you. Okay, bye," and he skipped out of the room.

It was like someone had flipped a switch. Dad's eyes popped open, and moved, looking around. He looked surprised and mumbled exhaustedly, "Was that the Impossible Son?"

"Yes," said my mother, looking greatly surprised and with tears in her eyes. "Do you want to see him?"

"Yeah," he said, and tried to turn on his side.

So, we called the Impossible Son in, and my dad saw him and reached for his hand, and they stood there and chatted for a bit. Well, the Impossible Son chattered, and Dad just smiled, nodded, occasionally trying to answer him though it was clear it was a huge effort. But he was making it, for Mr. Manzie. Then my very sneaky son said, "I was eating some of your Push-Pops, Grand-Daddy. If you don't eat one, I might not leave you any."

"You can have all the grape ones, " my dad said with a grimace. "Don't like 'em."

"No," said my son, "I'll eat the orange ones."

"You will not... those're... mine," my dad said, getting a little color in his cheeks.

Nothing like arguing with a seven year old over frozen treats to give someone the will to live, I guess.

Dad had his orange treat, and he and my son discussed the little cars Mr. Manzie had brought along. My son didn't stay in there long. He'd leave for a while, then come back with something else to show Grand-Daddy, or a question to ask, and it kept Dad animated for a while.

I'm glad Dad was able to pull out of it for a bit, but you know, he's getting so... well, he's too weak to get out of bed now. He spends most of his time sleeping, or staring out the windows, looking into the backyard he loves so much. He won't watch TV or listen to music. He hears other music now that we can't hear. When everyone bustled off to grab towels, or to check on the kids, or to get more water, etc, and we were alone, he'd look at me and smile, squeezing my hand as best he could, but sometimes, his eyes would go distant, and I knew he wasn't really with me anymore, and that's... well, that's just part of the journey he's on. He's letting go. He's not really here with us so much as he just comes back for brief visits. Like he did yesterday with my son.

He actually livened up enough to play with the Impossible Son. The Husbandly One blew up a couple of rubber gloves and tied knots in the end, and Mr. Impossible would bat one to Grand-Daddy, who would catch it as best he could, or would wait until his grandson handed it to him, and then he'd snap it back to Mr. Impossible with his fingers. I had to leave the room, because I knew it would exhaust him, but the sheer enjoyment in his eyes, and how happy my son was to be playing with him... I know he's going to remember it for the rest of his life. So, I had to leave the room to resist the urge to put a stop to it, to tell Daddy to save his strength. Because I realized... what would he be saving it for, if not for moments like these?

When we left, and I leaned over to kiss his forehead, I said, "You know, a simple, 'would you come visit, I miss you,' would have sufficed. You didn't have to scare Mom and the girls half to death to get me here. We were coming next weekend, you know."

He smiled. "Practice run." He was already sleepy.

I felt suddenly very scared, and very five years old. "Don't go anywhere just yet, " I said lightly.

"I can't even get to the bathroom," he said, then smiled to show he understood what I was really saying. "I'll try, but... they're waiting for me, you know," and he didn't have to say who. Because I knew.

So I just kissed the top of his head again, listened to my daughter tell him a joke, "Why did the chicken cross the road? EEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRK->BANG<... we may never know," which made him snort and laugh weakly, and then he waved, his eyes already drifting closed... and we left.

So, I'm exhausted. I'm worn. I'm frazzled. And I feel like I'm in suspension, sometimes. This will happen in its own time, I know that. I am reassured, too, that he isn't in a great deal of pain, and that for the most part, he's comfortable. In the meantime, though, it's like having my emotions wrung out on a regular basis, and the stress is getting to me. And my stress is getting to my husband and my children.

I think... I think I will go work in the garden. Maybe getting my hands dirty will help me restore my sense of balance. Because, I feel so very out of kilter, lately.

Home again, home again, jiggity-jog...

Well, it's been a very long and tiring birthday. THO woke me up... the BEST way (and what that was never you mind!), and then let me find my present, which was a new iPod shuffle to replace the OLD iPod shuffle. YAY!!

Then, after a bout of nerves, we got everybody cleaned up, dressed, and loaded into the minivan for the trip to Houston.

First thing I have to say about THO when going on a road trip is... he hates to make "unscheduled" stops (meaning any stop that isn't on his mental road trip plan), which makes me alternately want to laugh, or grab him by the throat and shake him. Because, really, dude, when you have kids, frequent stops is a reality, especially if you have a little boy who has apparently inherited his Grand-Daddy's small bladder.

I will say the Buckees just outside of Luling is astonishing. The women's restroom is HUGE and... I dunno why, but for some reason, it made me think of a living room. *is puzzled and disturbed*

Anyhow, we only made it as far as Flatonia before THO decided we needed to eat, then after that, we made pretty good time. THO managed to get past the Impossible Son's asking, "Where are we?" and "Are we there yet?" by getting him to read the mileage signs every single time they popped up. "Look, Little Man, what does that sign say?"

"Ummmm... Houston... 95 miles!"

Twenty minutes later. "There's another one, Bubba, what does it say?"

Impossible Son, getting a little annoyed: "It says Houston, 91 miles. And I don't want to read those signs any more, Papa."

Twenty minutes later. "Hey look, Mr. Manzie! What does that sign say?"

Frowning. "It SAYS Houston 84 miles... can I stop reading the signs now?"

(by the way, the miles and timespans are guesstimates off the top of my sleepy head)

THO made him read them ALL!! And you can just bet the trip home was MUCH quieter! At least on that aspect!

Houston was... interesting. Lots of broken trees, patched windows, tile stripped off roofs, etc. What really hit me was when we got past downtown Houston and were heading south on I-45, especially as we got close to the University of Houston. I kept frowning at the concrete barriers that line the freeway there, thinking maybe my glasses were dirty or something. But when I took them off, the smudgy, spotty marks were still on the barriers and it dawned on me what they were. The barriers are a little taller than normal in that section, and the bridges there that lead to the contraflow lanes, as well as exits to the University, etc, all make the freeway narrower and almost tunnel-like in places. The marks I saw were... SCOUR marks, where the hurricane force winds had picked up sand and grit, and in the wind tunnel created by the bridges and barriers, had SCOURED the finish off the concrete barriers, as well a portion of the road we were on. Stunning, no?

My folk's neighborhood lost a lot of trees, and there were some really big, really old trees there. My mom looked good, though tired. Bets looked drained, but. they both looked more cheerful than I had expected, and I soon found out why. Dad went in for a procedure on Friday where the doctors basically went in and treated the nerves leading to the areas where he was hurting the most and chemically blocked them off. In other words, they can't fire off pain signals to his brain anymore. It should last for two or three months, at which time they can do it again. He's feeling so much better! And was much perkier and alert than I've seen him in a long time. That was almost as good as a birthday present right there!!

He has lost a great deal of weight, though. He's about 138 pounds, which is the thinnest I've ever seen him. And I have to confess, when I went to his room to wake him up, I had to stand there for a moment as I looked down at him, and fight for my composure. He looks so... frail, so...light around the edges.

It was a good visit with everyone. I did some hand-sewing and repair for Mom that she can't do for herself, while THO joined the other husbands to trim back broken branches, retrieve lawn furniture and broken pots, and then climbed up on the roof to seal some leaks.

You know, it didn't occur to me until just now that I didn't get a birthday cake. Oh well.

*yawns* Sleepytime, over and out!

Stunned...

My husband is so sharp, it's a wonder he doesn't cut himself...

Two weeks ago, he said, "You know, hon, I'm thinking... I'm thinking we need to switch banks. I'm thinking... let's use the credit union here in town. They have better rates, and if we end up having to trade in one of our cars, we'll get a better deal."

I said, "What are you thinking and why are you mentioning this now?"

And he said, "Well, our bank's stock has plummeted. I think it's going to fail, and I've been thinking that we should bank locally anyway. Only thing is, our mortgages are there, but that'll be protected, so I don't think we have anything to worry about. But I do think we should move our checking account and consider moving our savings, as well."

I said, "Okay, sure..." So, last weekend, we opened an account at the credit union.

And this morning, Washington Mutual failed.

"You can have my isolation..."

Dear Mr. Reznor,

Thank you for sending me your survey. I really appreciate your making me feel extremely UN-hip and tragically UN-cool. Thanks to your survey, I am now uncomfortably aware of the fact that it has been three years since I last bought a new CD (I bought a CD last year, a reissue of Pablo Casals at the Marlborough Festival, conducting "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" somewhere in the early seventies), four years since I last bought a current, non-kid related DVD ("Monty Python and the Holy Grail" isn't exactly current, is it?), and well over twelve years since I saw live music. In fact, the last live show I saw was the Chieftains at the Cynthia Woods Pavilion in the Woodlands. Wanna know who opened for them? Sarah MacLachlan. Yeah. Sarah MacLachlan opened for the Chieftains. It was just before Fumbling Towards Ecstasy hit it big. I realized I was pregnant with the Impertinent One that night when walking into a TGI Friday's nearly made my stomach turn itself inside out. I spent that entire night in a happy, if somewhat nauseated, daze.

Still, I feel I must raise my voice in querulous complaint and say, you made me feel OLD. Yes. Old. And the truly sad thing is? You are barely a year and a half younger than me!!! STOP DOING THAT!

somewhat unhappily,

Jo


And speaking of un-coolness, evidence of how rough the game on Saturday was.




Blatant tripping. Dude, seriously, if you're going to trip a player that obviously, make sure the ball is in FRONT of you, so you can at least pretend you were going for the ball, and not the opposing player's legs!!

Well, he's young, he's still learning... and yes, the ref saw it and called it!

In news from Houston, Dad is eating, the generator is hooked up and running, so they have power as long as they can get gasoline to run it, Bets is staying with them to help with the grunt work, and to make sure the generator stays in trim, and Mom sounds very, very relieved. The city did call, and said it may be some weeks before they get to the neighborhood where Mom and Dad live. So the generator is a timely arrival! Mom and Dad are much more comfortable, just in time for the hot weather to return.

Autumn in Texas... sweat, sweat, sweat...

Shock...

You know, it's one thing to see the devastation when it first happens, to see it on television with a little emotional distance as they pan over random scenes.

It's completely different to open the newspaper the next day, and see places you hung out as a kid, or went to as a college student, or someplace you went every day for years ... and it's gone. Or it's... destroyed. Or...

My family is safe and well. I'm grateful. Their homes are intact, or repairable. No one is lost, or injured, or forced to seek new lodging.

But to see what has happened in my hometown...

It can be rebuilt, repaired, redone... but... it still hurts.