I want to say I am a little distraught.  And then, no, just no.  I AM DISTRAUGHT.  I am distraught after a public election, where everyone with a vote hopefully voted, there is SO MUCH DISCOURSE.  Still. So much discourse.  Yes, I have an opinion.  Yes, I want to shout from the roof top my opinion.  With Christmas Eve approaching, this seems appropriate given I used to wait to hear the sleigh bells and hoof clops on my childhood house and dream of Santa coming down the chimney.

Yet, I put my blog on hold these last few weeks as I struggle:  to be myself, to have respect for differing opinions, to silence my voice as I yearn to climb the ladder to the top and share with my world.  I hesitate to be part of the loud noise of someone upset, happy or otherwise over the national election of Donald Trump.  For many reasons I hesitate.

Mostly I want people to like me.  I did not realize how strong this want was until a few years back.  I am so not a people pleaser. I am often the outspoken one in the group. I readily give my opinion.  Yet, I spend many nights with little sleep replaying over and over again an interaction, checking myself.  Was I fair, did I listen, did I do it ‘right’ or do I need to somehow clean it up?

Maybe it was more than a few years ago, when I got wired head to toe at a sleep clinic, that I figured out why I wasn’t sleeping.  Getting to sleep? No problem.  Waking up in the middle of the night and falling back to sleep, big problem.  Still is.  I am grateful for my Kindle that is backlit so I can read to quiet my brain. So is Honey, who used to be woken up by my bedside lamp. Anyway, my brain spins me wide awake as I replay a scene over and over.

And that brings me back to our 2017 President Elect.  Donald Trump is our United States President Elect. I am distraught that so Americans  are name calling and labeling those that do not think like them.

So at the risk of being unliked, unfriended or blocked, I’ll let someone else share a few paraphrased thoughts that I took from a Facebook post:

‘Good God people, some of you act as if the world has come to an end. Really? The forefathers are smiling down on us as the political system has done what it was INTENDED to do; let the people speak. It has let one vote rise above another, in a civilized way, without a revolution, a hostile take-over, or an exiled regime with new puppeteer leaders appointed by a foreign country. And, despite the media trying to create a doomsday effect, it is apparent America has chosen a new color to adorn the country. Everyone woke up today, put their boots on, walked out the door, and went about their day to better their community, their family, their life!
By the way; there were no riots or revolutions….and the stock market did not crash.
God Bless America!’

And those childhood Christmas memories?  Many winter days my dad would build a fire in the fireplace. I would be distraught on Christmas Eve, thinking Santa might bypass our house only to  wake up to an empty stocking.

Oh, the good ‘ol days when I used to sleep all night and instead of world peace I was just looking for some snow.