Taking one more step

It is that time again in the great Northwest. There are beginning to be more leaves on the ground than on the trees, more rainy days than not. As the rain begins to fall, we move our focus inward in more ways than one. I need to look for kid projects to entertain ourselves on these long wet weekends when we don't feel up to a soggy game of soccer or a hike in the gorge.

This November, my thoughts keep being drawn to both the national and local elections. Here we go again... voter fraud, disenfranchisement, Diebold, hackers and the like. I hear the Republicans are planning to cry "foul" if they lose, citing election fraud. Well, ain't that calling the kettle black. I'm sorry (call me a conspiracy theorist if you will) but these Neocons wouldn't even be in power if they didn't know how to cheat. And while my mind keeps wandering in that direction, I keep trying to pull it back from the political abyss to something more wholesome, more real, more within my control.


I think they call it "nesting." Amazingly I have conquered the laundry! No, no - it's TRUE! I did our entire week's worth of laundry yesterday, put every piece away (except Hubbie's - he does his own) and I even sort of enjoyed it! Now compared to the fate of the world, this seems extremely insignificant... and it is. But I can master it and I have. Isn't the Serenity Prayer used in AA groups around the world that says:

grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can...

A more modern day thinker offers this:

Listen closely and you can hear them...
the great spirits of every tribe
the ones who were here before us
Listen to what they are saying
There is one who calls himself Gandhi
and another who calls himself King
They know that the way is not easy
There is a woman named Teresa
and many who are simply known as
Grandmothers and Grandfathers
and all of them whisper into our ear...
'Don't give up' they tell us...
'Don't become cynical...'
'Take one more step...'
'There is a reason...'


Ron Atchison/Inspiration Peak http://www.inspirationpeak.com


and so as any good Mama would, today I will spend quality time with young children, do my phone banking shift to get out the vote for schools and pro-schools candidates, revel in my new found laundry goddessness, have a family meeting, continue to organize my office, hunker down, attempt to have hope, brace myself and make pretzels!

If the world falls apart, at least my house will be clean and we'll have clean clothes!