A Brief Open Letter to the TNDP

Hi,

Here’s the thing.  I suck it up and go to church with my parents because they are my parents and I have a duty to them.  An obligation to them, which I take very seriously, even though it often causes me heartache.

But I will not pray to your god with you.  And I am annoyed that I have to in order to participate fully in the Democratic Party.

Here is my question.  If I find myself present for a “Welcome: Opening / Pledge of Allegiance / Prayer / Acknowledgements & Recognition” or a “Prayer Breakfast: Led by Ordained Legislators” will there be a moment when we all respectfully pray to my gods?

So why should I be forced to respectfully pray to yours?

Signed,

Aunt “Obviously Not a Unitarian” B.

We Must Talk Briefly About The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency

In its favor, it has two of my favorite HBO staples–terrible accents and Idris Elba (though I could just be imagining a striking difference between the locals and the out of towners)–and Jill Scott, whose got this way of wiggling her butt that gives me such great pause I about can’t bother to continue typing.

Going against it is the ongoing references to how fat Jill Scott is.  Is Jill Scott fat?  Yes.  Can I believe that, being that beautiful, with the ability to wiggle her butt like that, that that’s the first and only thing people notice about her character?  No.  And if it is, their loss.

Because Who Doesn’t Love a Little Silliness?

Y’all asked and I provide.  Here’s the thing.  When I do the drawings of me, I do them in Paint and with my right hand and at the size I need them to be to fit this space.  So, I couldn’t blow up the John Rich outrage picture and put it large on the front of a t-shirt because it was only three inches wide to begin with.  And I can barely draw with my right hand and a mouse; I cannot draw with my right hand and a mouse pad.

But I did put it small on a cheap t-shirt and a magnet so that those of you who feel like it can have it if you want it.

http://www.cafepress.com/tinycatpants.134519968

http://www.cafepress.com/tinycatpants.28823858

The magnet is, in my opinion, hilarious.  You can use it to put anything you find outrageous on anything you have that’s metal.

One More Word About the Phlox

Oh, I meant to tell you this morning that we just went around the corner to Bates Nursery to get our phlox and we put it in the ground and I watered it a little and I went out today and I swear it was like it grew over night.  I have never seen anything like it.  I don’t know if it’s just that the plants they have their rock so hard or my mad gardening skills (um… yes… let me be clear: it’s not the latter) or what, but they look amazing.

I should take a picture, but I won’t.

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Yesterday, I did everything I wanted to do and nothing I didn’t.  I got the phlox planted and replanted the herbs that failed to thrive (yes, hello, 30 degree, I am not happy to see you coming) which I will probably end up replanting again in a couple of weeks.  I took pictures of all the stuff going on in the yard and I lounged in the hammock.

Today, I want to do a little garden dirt breaking up, see some friends, and go to the grocery store.

And, behold, that is what I’m doing.

I’m going to admit that, it makes me nervous.  Can you have this much good fortune without having to pay the piper at some point?

I think that it’s right here where I have the hardest time letting go of my Christian beliefs and trusting in the knowledge of my ancestors and I think it’s because there are two very different ideas with a lot of overlap going on.  I do come from a line of people who do seem to have a hard time getting the things they need in order to be happy (and I use “things” in its broadest sense, because though some of us are very materialistic, others of us are not) and being able to hold onto the good things we have.

The Midwest Protestant in me says two things.  1.  Don’t go enjoying these good things too much because showing any enjoyment of anything is a sure signal to God that it’s come to mean too much to you and he must take it away.  2.  Enjoying the good things in your life when others are so miserable is bragging and showing off.  Which is unseemly.

The Heathen in me says that yes, of course, families can have a kind of fortune.  And once you understand that fortune, you can work to modify it by getting into right relation with your community–seen and unseen.  So, good fortune can be worked at and does, when lost, slip away for a reason other than just a jealous god who needs you to be miserable here so that you will aspire to be with Him there.

Still, on weekends like this, I am torn.  My first reaction is to try to not enjoy it too much, to not be unseemly, to not get into a situation where I need comeuppance.  But the thing I’m trying to understand in my heart is that enjoying it and being open in my enjoyment without fear of having it stripped from me is the proper response, the one that fosters better fortune.