Life in the Dark Times

There was a television show of the same era as the original Twilight Zone I used to watch. The basic theme was an event in each episode which changed drastically the direction of the characters and the plot. I became obsessed with defining those events in my past.

I had some big ones. There was my mother's breast cancer, the art teacher coming after me with mat knife and then inviting me into he storage room for me to apologize, and being struck by a skier while teaching.

But not all turning points in our life are so clearly defined. Sometimes we continue on our planned route without realizing we must have taken a turn because this is not where we thought we would be. As my sister would say in our off road adventures, "Not lost but just unsure of how to get back to where we started." To which I would ask, "Is that what we want to do? Go back?" It rarely was. We sort of enjoyed going beyond the limits of the GPS. Note: in the mountain west that is easier to do than New York City.

In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy says, "Toto, I have a feeling we are not in Kansas anymore."

I can relate to that feeling as regards the dark times since Trump was elected. There was that initial dread and then denial, the universal survival skill, set in. Surely things won't change that much. Finally realizing we are not in the United States anymore. At least not the US I know. But that is there and this is here. But a relatively routine exercise brought there here. My tenant is buying a house. The apartment is available to rent. And my anxiety level is sky high.

I don't want to rent it. What if one of them wants to rent it? That was new. I have worried about drugs in the past. You can lose your house if they are selling. I thought a law enforcement officer was safe once but he got involved in illegally selling, wait for it, firewood which he was taking without permits from a national forest. Then there was madam librarian who liked little boys. But somehow it just seemed that one of the MAGA bunch would be so much worse.

And then there is the just over drought. I have a well, and climate change has made me very protective of its water. A family of five MAGA's would be so bad. But it is a source of money I am turning down though I am not sure with the new tax bill it is as beneficial to my budget as previously.

So I am not renting. I am currently trying to find a politically correct excuse for not. I think I will stay with, "It doesn't pay for itself." On the same as "We are not lost." Right?