Being Human

"Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten."

~Neil Gaiman

Coraline

If it's Thursday, that means this is the last full day things in the world will make sense, at least as much sense as it has up until now. 24 hours from now Barack Obama will leave office, and Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 45th President Of The United States, and any semblance to normality will completely change. Forever. I haven't decided yet whether I will just sleep all day, or get drunk by noon and stay that way, or if I will just drift off into what I think of as the abyss, the allowing my brain the complete and total shutdown of the following of any news, politics, science or the research about any of the things I feel/felt that mattered. In other words... completely giving up.

My world isn't just about politics and news of the day. I love reading about fashion. I love music, so much so, that Alan routinely complains about the volume of noise coming from my office. I like to read too. Biographies. The plays of Neil Simon. Anything by Alice Hoffman, Mary Higgins Clark and Susan Issacs. Reading has brought me a great deal of happiness and peace. I fell in love with it as a small child, and at one time I considered writing, or perhaps journalism, but it wasn't to be. As disappointed as I was, I still had reading as a hobby, and I have ran to it many times when either the world got too loud and stupid, or my own head noise was too loud and stupid.

I am back there right now, and both the world and my own head is nothing but stupid noise. We are about to cross into some dark territory, and there is nothing we can do to stop it. Some supporters of Trump are already having regrets about voting for him, and as funny as that can be, it is also frustrating and infuriating. To be able to say, "I told you so" is really of little help... no, actually, it doesn't help at all. Trump is the 45th President Of The United States, and it's horrible. It's frightening. It's wrong. And... IT'S REAL. Sure, history will put a little (  *  ) next to his name because of Putin's involvement, but by the time his administration is over, will it matter? Will we even still be a nation by that time?

I don't know. 

So, because I have NO idea what comes next, I have decided to adjust my thinking as a way of caring for my frayed nerves, at least for this weekend. I am going to turn the noise off, and curl up with a book this weekend, and when I do it will be with this old book/friend, Making Minty Malone, by Isabel Wolff. Minty is a little bit Bridget Jones, and a little bit Carrie Bradshaw and a little bit of a every girl, everywhere.

I don't want to give too much away, but it's a fun lighthearted read, that frankly I couldn't put down the first time I read it, which, by the way, was back in 2000! I love Minty, and her misadventures. She is written as very human, and who can't identify with that? Being human is something I know about very well, pitfalls, missteps and embarrassing moments and all. I was very pleased to find a hardcover edition on Amazon last week, and it was only .99 cents + shipping! 

It's healthy to turn off the noise from time to time.

Right?

I think I will be doing a lot of reading in the near future, but one sure bet... I won't be reading the Art Of The Deal anytime soon. 

Mood: Contemplative

~Me