You are Turning Over and So Is the Presidency!

November 9, 2020

Dear Joanie,

It's been a while, but leading up to the election got more and more stressful. The days dragged on and on, but finally November 3 was here. Your great grandfather Doug and I had already voted about a month ago, but finally, we hoped that things would come to a head, and we would find out who our new president was. I should put that another way.  We hoped that for an end to the nightmare that the presidency has been under Donald Trump--a crude, racist, self-centered bully who has dismantled some of our best efforts at climate control, land use, immigration, international relationships--you name it. He has been vile, especially to women, calling them ugly, dog-faced, monstrous. Well, I could go on, but I won't because...

...in fact, we do have a new president, Joe Biden, and he brings a message of unity and hope, a belief that scientists can best help us get COVID-19 under control. It won't be easy for him. He won by four million votes, but Trump got seventy million himself, and that's rather daunting--seventy million people wanted to continue the chaos that he creates around himself and the country. It won't be easy for him, but, to tell the truth, there was dancing in the streets, literally.

COVID-19 has surged once again in this country and throughout the world. We in Colorado are at a Safer at Home stage. I go out for groceries, and I take Shelby Poodle to day care twice a week. I hike with neighbors occasionally up here in the mountains.  As Thanksgiving and Christmas approach, we are pretty much resigned to being here on our own. I continue taking classes over Zoom, most frequently by dance classes. We also still "attend" church over Zoom, and your great grandfather has two book clubs that he goes to.  We wear face masks any time we go out, and they are required when we shop. I"m building up a wardrobe.

You and I still have not met one another in person. 

But I have seen you turn over from your back to your tummy. It was really hard work for you, but you kept at it, not being sure exactly what you were doing and why, but you pushed and fell backward, pushed again and again, and then you made it! On your tummy with a look of "Now what?" on your face. We are so grateful to your mom and dad for posting pictures and videos frequently.  Your whole face beams when you smile, and when I bring up your pictures on the big screen, we are all smiles, too. 

Today is a snowy day in Colorado, and I have a fire going in our woodstove. All is quiet up here in the mountains, and we hope the bears have now gone to sleep for the winter. The deer and foxes are burrowing in, and the chipmunks are digging in even further.  

I'll keep you updated on how this transition to a new president goes. Inauguration is not until January 24. At this point, Trump has not conceded the election. We'll see.

Keep turning over to see new horizons.

Love,

Dance Class on my 80th Birthday    

GG Katie