Tuesday, November 24, 2020

Grateful

Daily I have to fight off a sense of complete depression. It was not enough to have to face daily the barrage of lies and other crap flowing out of the Oval Office daily.  Our pseudo-president is a one-man depression machine. And then we have this pandemic thingie. I’m old enough to remember World War II, but nothing, including that awful war, created this sense of foreboding of the pandemic plus Trump. Oh and then there’s that 85 thing.   Maybe were I 39 really, instead of in my 46th 39th year, I would be able to say, “oh, screw it, this too will soon go away”. But when old Father Time keeps creeping up to my front door and reminding me that the end is near, it is much more difficult to say, “to hell with this thing”.

But then I realize that our grandson and his lady love will soon be gracing our door, just to chat for a bit, since we no longer get to spend Sunday evenings at a nice family dinner with him.  It’s nice that our grandkids try to do just that with enough frequency that we are able to smile at the thought.  Or they call us from afar, again just to chat, to see how we are. 

And it is difficult to imagine how life would be were my wife (of 65 years) and I not here supporting and loving one another daily.  Many folks are not so blessed. After 65 years and counting, my wife and I are not merely lovers, but best friends.  And not in the Facebook sense of that term.  Best friends means that we finish each other’s sentences. That when one of us begins to want something, but the right word refuses to come out, we toss out the word and then we laugh.  Best friends means that in the morning, every morning, I make a nice cup of Cappuccino for each of us. Then we hold the cups up, click them, look into our eyes, and say, “To Us”.  And in the evening, we do the same ritual with a nice glass of wine.

We snuggle while watching TV together—Late night comedies and British TV mysteries, or comedies. Turns out snuggling is good for friends. Maintains that BFF character the way it was intended.

And then we have the anticipation. What anticipation you ask? Well, we have another Great Grandchild arriving soon. Yes, we have some Great Grandchildren, at least one of whom is now moving out of the “children” stage and into the adult stage. But a new Great Grand remains very special.  And so we look forward to late December or maybe early January to greet our new arrival into our extended family.  And that is very exciting.  Grandkids and now great grands are very special to us oldsters. They provide a source of love without really demanding anything, except some love in return.  Quite wonderful.

And so we continue to understand that love really does make the world this special place. Yes, we all need money and security, but mostly we need love.  Had Donald Trump been loved, ever, in his poor benighted life, he would not be this monster he became.  Because love provides security, a sense that you have worth, and that you have a special place in this world. Lacking love, many people opt for false power over others, and creates a need to demonstrate superiority over other people. With Love,  you know you are special and don’t need to devalue others.

And so, we are grateful. This awful period will actually end someday, even if not soon enough. Hopefully, our grandkids will be able to look back and understand that the world came close to devouring itself, but then we all stepped back from that precipice.  Hopefully, they will be able to open their eyes in the morning and say to a loved one, “Good morning. I love you and thanks for being here”. Or gaze at a glorious sunset and say, “thank you world for being so wonderful.”

Hopefully, Gratitude and kindness will then follow. So thanks world.



No comments: