Cloud Beast – Photo: L. Weikel
Dreary Overload
Wow, today’s weather was a dreary overload of dark skies, chilling rain, and wind intent on whipping the just-turning leaves into sopping wet blankets of yellow and brown.
I’ve been riding such a high over the past several days that even when the skies occasionally clouded over or actually let loose with a downpour or two, I never once felt a sense of gloom. So today’s experience of the remnants of Hurricane Delta (so named because they ran through the entire alphabet of names for the season and were forced to start anew) was a bit of a shock to my system.
Over the Weekend
It feels like there’s almost been an inexplicable shift in everything since late last week. The outside world just isn’t feeling quite the same. It seems to have shifted into another level of absurd, beginning with the Vice-Presidential debate last Wednesday night.
Listening to the answers given by each of the candidates was like listening to two people from different galaxies. For instance, it felt surreal to watch Pence spew lie after lie about the supposedly outstanding response to the pandemic martialed by the current Administration. And the repeated interruptions, rudely interjecting under a guise of folksy passive aggression that made me want to scream in disgust.
After watching that debate, however, I became immersed in the last minute tasks and festivities leading up to the wedding, which in turn mercifully distracted me from paying any further attention to the non-stop anxiety train.
Yes, I tangentially checked in every once in a while to make sure I wasn’t missing some imminent threat to our well-being, but the truth is that I only started tuning in again today. And I have to admit, there’s a part of me that yearns to go back to the person I was years ago who generally paid only half a mind to political sparring and policy discussions.
But can you put that toothpaste back in the tube? I doubt it.
Conflicted
I’ll admit it: I’m conflicted. As someone said tonight, we only have 22 days left until this election. If we want to peer into the mirror and look ourselves in the eye, posing the question of whether we did everything we could to make the world a better place on November 3rd, then we need to put our thoughts and actions into service today.
There’s so much at stake; it’s hard to feel I’m doing enough. But perhaps I can chalk up at least a portion of my malaise to a bliss hangover made worse by hurricane detritus.
(T-410)