November 6, 2024
Well, it was quite a day. I don’r work on Wednesdays, so I had the luxury to alternate between seeking comfort, trying to distract myself, and crying. I’m still trying to make sense of it all, and I’m still extremely sad. I cried when I saw the election results. I cried when I told my daughter what happened. After I dropped her off at school, I came home, sat on the couch and cried. Then, I got myself together. I made some tea and oatmeal, and sat on the couch with my cat snuggled nearby, reading blogs. Most people (unlike me) had gone ahead with previously scheduled posts, so there wasn’t much talk of the election results, which was very comforting. After a while I took a short nap (because I didn’t sleep much the night before, obviously) and then I sprang into action. On the way to school my daughter had a mini-meltdown, saying she doesn’t have anything to wear. Well- I’m not sure that’s our biggest problem right now, but it IS a problem I can do something about. I headed off to the mall. This was a dangerous excursion, because remember, I live in Florida. It’s not like I’m surrounded by a like-minded community. But I did notice a couple signs I’ve never seen before: Ah, retail therapy. I browsed! I bought crap I didn’t need! I didn’t even bring my own bags. And then I got a Coke Zero from, of all places, Chick Fil-A. I grappled with that for a moment, but they’re the only place in the food court that has it so finally I thought “Just get the damn drink, Jenny. It doesn’t matter.” This was a good diversion- I only had one bad moment. In one of the stores, a woman was talking loudly on her phone. She said ‘Well, we got rid of the democrats, so now we can start fixing things.” Um- did you ever stop to think that maybe not everyone voted the same way you did, and we don’t want to hear that? Oh wait- “Trump supporter” and “compassion” don’t go together (oops, sorry. I’m very sorry! I try to go high when they go low, but I don’t always succeed.) On the way home, I got a text from my son in answer to a message I had sent him earlier: He’s right. Of course, he doesn’t know what will happen during the next four years; no one does. But there are people who this will affect much more than me. I mean, look at me: “Oh no! Trump won the election! Well, I’m off to the mall to buy soap!” I really am privileged (but I’m still extremely sad.) One more thing- I’m so grateful for this blogging community. Of course I have like-minded friends, and I have my sister, but I don’t have a local community to turn to. Thank you, blogger friends! What did you do on Wednesday? Top photo by Simeon Muller on Unsplash