The Samantha Years


Sunday mornings at home include coffee, breakfast, the Sunday paper and Meet the Press…..tradition…

Today’s broadcast left me a little fired up; healthcare reform, fighting within congress, back-stabbing, shootings in Washington over political agendas.

It left me really fired up. Cleaning the bathroom fired up, writing a political blog post fired up. What has become of our country? Who are we if we can’t agree on anything? Why does everyone seem so angry?

The more I thought about this, the seemingly hopeless division in our country, the more my balloon of anger and despair grew. It started to fill the room.

And then I read my friend Maria’s post about Jacob’s school fundraiser. Maria gave a speech at the Bal Swan Ball regarding their journey with Jacob. She received a standing ovation and people gave thousands of dollars to the school after hearing their story.

Well that doesn’t fuel my balloon of anger and despair at all.

And then I took Samantha to a free art class, sponsored by a local therapist. Samantha painted with a therapeutic handle for over an hour. I was very, very proud of my little Monet! And very grateful to a woman who would donate her time and expertise to our special needs community.

My balloon of anger and despair started to deflate.

The grand finale was an article in paper about volunteering….that more Americans are giving back and helping their community during this time of need.

Well crap…..I am no longer angry. I no longer feel hopeless and full of despair.

My husband and I honeymooned in France. This was during the time when France pulled out of Iraq, we were eating freedom fries instead of french fries and friends wondered why we would choose to vacation in such a place.

One night we had dinner next to a French couple and we talked politics. “What is important”, the woman next to us said, “is that we are not the French government. You are are not the American government. We are only people, having dinner and enjoying each others’ company.”

So we shared a bottle of wine. Viva La France!

But it’s true, during this time of uncertainty, we cannot forget that we do not represent what is going on in Washington. We are only people, generous, intelligent people who only want what is best for our families, what is best for our lives.

My balloon of anger and despair is nothing but a tiny piece of latex.

So, instead of being angry, perhaps I will sit back tonight with a glass of French wine and just watch the Academy Awards. This is a tad ironic because I’ve only seen two of the ten Best Pictures; Up and Inglorious Basterds.

We are the only couple in the world who has not seen Avatar.

My vote? I loved Inglourious Basterds; violence and all. I think Quentin Tarantino is a crazy genius. Personally, shockingly, my vote is for anything but James Cameron. It’s wonderful to be fabulous at what you do, even better to have other people think you’re fabulous….but to tell the world how fabulous you really are, well that’s just poor form….I had to give my opinion about something 🙂

Happy Sunday.

1 thought on “Deflated”

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