Time Again?! The 2024 Presidential Election

November 4, 2024 - Out of all the days, past, present and future, this day will see its ending with a new beginning. A newly elected President Of The United States (hereafter, POTUS) who will declare victory. Whether it will be (R) Donald Trump or (D) Kamala Harris, remains to be seen. No matter the winner, I pray 🙏 it will be a clear, no sour grapes win. I pray 🙏 that no one accuses the other of cheating. I pray 🙏 there is no insurrection riot, the likes of which we saw that January 6th, not so long ago (2021). That was a hideously scary time. A day that I pray 🙏 never happens again.

Now, I have been a Registered Republican Voter ever since the year Ronald Reagan was elected POTUS for the first time (1980). I have voted every four years since then (44years), and remained committed to the Republican Party. 

I still consider myself Republican, however, this is the first time in all of my years as a Registered Voter that my choice for President Of The United States is crossing party lines. This is what I believe:

I am a woman, born and bred. I am over 18yo and I am considered a legal adult. Therefore;

I have the EXCLUSIVE RIGHT to decide any and all things regarding MY BODY! 

As of this entry, I have been living on $1,363.00 per month in 2024. Were it not for the assistance of state-run programs, i.e., Section-8 Housing and Medicaid, I don't know where I'd be financially. I'm not complaining. I'm grateful. Trump threatens to take away - amongst other things - my Social Security. I can't let that happen. 

Project 2025 is dangerous for Americans. It will take away our power, our control, our money. It will take away our freedom. I'm not willing to take any chances regarding this "project".

To summarize MY feelings, whether you agree with me or not, they're mine. When Trump won the POTUS and took office in 2017, a lot of people didn't like him. I didn't like him either, but he did what he said he was going to do. At that time, there was none of the hateful rhetoric like I've seen since.

I understand that taking jabs at your opponent is to be expected, but the way he handled (or didn't handle) his 2020 2nd term bid for POTUS, acting like a spoiled child who lost his favorite toy and then refusing to concede that he lost that election, is just plain ridiculous. 

Then you take into consideration all of the violence surrounding the Jan 6th riots at the White House, and the way he has brutally brow-beat Kamala Harris over and over during this, his 2nd chance campaigning for a 2nd term - blurring the issues with his negativity - I'm just over Donald Trump. 

Go home, old man! I am a conservative. I am still a Republican. But, because of YOU, I have made the decision. I crossed the line and voted for Kamala Harris for the next POTUS. May God have Mercy on us all! 🙏 🥺

 

In The Blink Of An Eye

In the blink of an eye, everything can change. People from my past, whom I hadn't honestly thought about in a long time, *poof* they're gone. This person takes me back to the 1980's when I moved back to Vermont and started my life over.

 In small town America, employment options are sometimes few and far between. One of the bigger employers of that time for that area was called The Book Press. My (#2) husband worked there as a journeyman. They printed and prepared books for sale. All kinds of books. The machines were massive! It was amazing to watch these HUGE rolls of paper travel up, down, and all-around this machine and at the end become big sheets of paper, printed on the front and back, ready to go on to the next machine for binding and becoming a book. 

Mark Calabrese was also a journeyman and frequently worked on the press right next to (#2). We all became friends and when (sadly) in 1989, my marriage to (#2) fell apart, Mark and his wife purchased our house, which allowed us to go our separate ways.

I'd hear from Mark or his wife off and on in the beginning. At first, they were just checking in on me, which was really nice. Then there were major issues with the house that I had no prior idea about. And our conversations became fewer and farther between. 

Today, I learned that Mark Calabrese has passed away. He had throat cancer and had been in declining health ever since. 

Throat cancer. A rough cancer. My Dad passed from complications due to it in 2002. His youngest brother had it twice. He wasn't so lucky the second time. 

So, in what seemed like the blink of an eye, life changed. The people we knew are gone and it's only just a matter of another blink before you join them. 

🎵Love the ones you're with.🎵

Life is short, fleeting - all in the blink of an eye. Make the best of today. Yesterday is gone, tomorrow is not promised. 

Respite For The Weary

‍I share this prayer with you because it's a good one. The content is simple yet profound:

"A Prayer of Relinquishment" by Richard Foster

Today, O Lord, I yield myself to You.

May Your will be my delight today.

May Your way have perfect sway in me.

May Your love be the pattern of my living.

I surrender to You my hopes, my dreams, my ambitions. Do with them what You will, when You will, as You will.

I place into Your loving care my family, my friends, my future. Care for them with a care that I can never give.

I release into Your hands my need to control,

my craving for status,

my fear of obscurity.

Eradicate the evil, pacify the good, and establish Your kingdom on earth.

For Jesus' sake. Amen.

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