Speaking Personally, Double birthdays and a little optimism

I’m enjoying a rare fit of optimism. Since I’m somewhat melancholy by nature, my work in newspapers has not much improved my positive outlook. In fact, I consider it to be a rare treat when there is good news to put on the front page. Most weeks, I must pack down the details of the stories I write into a strong little box and shove them to the back of my mind.

 

But this week? I’m feeling optimistic. 

 

We have just wrapped up what will become the first annual double birthday celebration in our home. Our youngest child, Geraldine, turned one on Saturday. Ron’s birthday was Sunday. A double birthday weekend was the perfect chance to lay the foundations of a family tradition. 

 

Yet, as I grappled with the realities of life with four kids under ten, running the newspaper, and homeschooling (while still hoping to sleep occasionally), party planning just did not make it to the top of the to-do list. For a Type A personality whose entire life is planned out in spreadsheets, failing to plan all the details for this double birthday weekend caused me no small amount of anxiety. 

 

Geraldine still turned one. Ron still turned 49. 

 

We managed a small and chaotically fun party. Our baby girl blew out the candle in her grocery store cupcake, and she loved it. 

 

It all worked out. As things tend to do. 

 

And maybe it’s all the extra sugar and singing, but I do feel optimistic.

 

Right now I can see, with a clarity I so rarely enjoy, that if it seems that things aren’t working out - it only means we haven’t reached the end. 

 

In the pauses of this weekend, I’ve spent a lot of time talking about November’s election day and the measures on the ballot. Talking. Arguing. Pleading with people I’ve never met to see reason. Most of these people are arguing from a place of raucous emotion. 

 

This election cycle is soaked in emotion.

 

In the middle of drafting this piece, the news broke of what appears to be a second attempt on the life of presidential candidate Donald Trump. It’s not lost on me that Kamala Harris’s supporters are also fraught with emotion over her candidacy. 

 

Everywhere I look lately, I’ve been seeing ugly arguments and jokes about this election season. 

 

In this optimistic mood, all I really wish to say is that it will all work out. Even if the election results come out exactly the opposite of your hopes, it will be okay. 

 

Politics, people, laws, and even countries, are temporary. Their influence and consequences are finite. Life will go on, and if you don’t like the results of this election, start working on the next one. Fight for what you think is right. Only remember that we must all wake up on November 6 and go on together as Americans, no matter how we voted. 

 

And again – maybe it’s the sugar and my very sweet just-turned-one daughter, but today, despite the darkness and ungainly emotions that encroach, it seems like good will triumph. It seems like life could win.

Next week will probably find me worked up and ranting, but today I hope you find some hope.