As Abraham Lincoln said in his Gettysburg Address – our government is “of the people, by the people, for the people.” It’s not meant to dictate to us. We are meant to dictate to it.
I have recently been involved in some interesting discussions about our Bill of Rights and what it means – particularly the provision in the First Amendment for peaceful protest.
I think there are things that should be considered non-partisan: decency, fairness, equity, kindness, wisdom, honesty. And there are certain things that no party should tolerate: cruelty, inhumanity, bigotry, racism, misogyny, dishonesty.
In a thread on a friend’s FB wall, one poster pointed out that 56-67 ICE detainees died during the time of the Obama administration. (Note that according to The Guardian, “Thirty-two people died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] custody in 2025 – making it the agency’s deadliest year in more than two decades, as the Trump administration moved to detain a record number of people.”)
In a comment to another poster, I wrote: “…thank you for reminding us all that this is a non-partisan issue, and whenever our Bill of Rights is ignored – no matter what administration is in charge – it is our duty to protest to make sure we keep our rights.”
To which, that poster replied, “…well the left treats it like Its (sic) a partisan issue and only sends (sic) to have a problem because trump is doing it. If you’re gonna protest then you need to protest when the left does it or allow when the right does it too. Its (sic) not rules for thee and not for me.”
To which, I posted the photo below – of me marching in a local migrant farmworkers’ march in 2012, during the Obama administration.
And no, I certainly don’t think any of us should EVER “allow” cruelty, injustice, inhumanity – regardless of which party is sitting in the White House. Activism – fighting for the rights of others, and for our own rights – doesn’t begin when one party gets in office, and end when another party gets in office. It should be, I think, a lifelong commitment to our country, and our world.
Another poster posted a response that gave me my first laugh out loud of the day. I’m still cracking up. 😀 Here’s a screenshot of that conversation…
I’m finding a sense of humor is essential to keeping one’s sanity in these interesting times. 😀
There was a time – almost exactly nine years ago now – when I was terrified and felt like I was facing challenges impossible to overcome. Both my parents were in the hospital – Mom on one floor, Dad on the floor above her. I’d just learned that Mom was not going to be allowed to return to her retirement community apartment because they couldn’t provide the medical care she’d need. I had made calls to assisted living places and to offices that provided in-home nursing care and learned that the cost of my mom’s care – combined with care for Dad – would cost $15,000 or more a month. Their savings might buy them a couple months, but then I might need to get into my own retirement savings to care for them.
And beyond the money terror, I was feeling a deep grief. Mom was dying. My sweet mama was dying. No one would ever love me like Mom loved me, or know me as she had known me. I remember sobbing with hopelessness.
I talked with my husband about our options, and he supported me in my decision to have Mom brought to our home. He agreed to help me care for her. The social workers at the hospital were concerned for me – they kept asking me if this is what I really wanted to do, and I said yes. I didn’t know how we were going to do this – my husband and I were both working full-time then, and I wasn’t sure when we were going to actually be able to sleep. But I knew it was the right thing to do. I felt Love leading me to make this decision for Mom.
Mom was brought by ambulance to my home on President’s Day nine years ago. A hospice nurse from Hospice Northwest came to show Scott and me how to care for Mom. We weren’t sure how long we’d have with her – I think we were told she wasn’t expected to live more than six months – but… I picked up on the signs from the hospice nurse as she examined Mom that we probably didn’t have that long.
Mom and I spent the whole afternoon telling each other how much we loved each other. Mom – who’d always been one of the bravest people I’d ever known – was scared. I can’t remember any other time when I’d seen her scared. She asked me, “What happens when I die? Will I see you again?” And I told her that nothing could separate us from the love we have for each other. Love doesn’t die. I assured her we’d meet again. She nodded her head and seemed to accept my words as the truth. Later, as it got hard for her to speak, I asked her one more time if she loved me – I was greedy. And she looked at me with such intensity – her eyes on mine filled with love – and nodded her head. I will never forget that look in her eyes. I carry it with me still, and it reassures me.
That night I slept on the couch by her hospital bed. I had this beautiful dream full of butterflies and green fields and felt this sense of joy and peace and love brush by me. When I woke from this dream I realized Mom wasn’t struggling to breathe and I thought, “Oh, she’s okay. I don’t need to give her any medication right now.” And I closed my eyes to go back to sleep, and then I realized… I got out of bed and felt my mama, and she was cool. I went upstairs to tell Scott I thought she had passed, but I wasn’t sure. Scott came downstairs and felt her pulse, and said, “Moz is gone, Sweetie.”
The hospice nurse came and walked us through what we needed to do. I’ll always be grateful for our hospice nurses.
But now my thoughts turned to Dad – he was soon to be released from the hospital and I still didn’t know how we were going to give him the care he needed. He was 98 then and suffering from a kind of dementia – and I didn’t feel equipped with the skills to help him. I prayed. I prayed desperate prayers, and I went for a walk to try to find some peace. As I was walking, a rainbow suddenly arched over the field I was passing, and I felt Mom with me.
The social workers at the hospital asked me if I’d ever looked into adult family homes, and gave me a pamphlet with phone numbers. On the second call I felt I’d found the right place for Dad and when my brother and I stopped by to check it out we saw bird feeders and dogs and cats – and we knew Mom would have loved the woman who answered the door. Again, I felt Mom’s presence with us. We’d found the right place for Dad – and within his budget, too!
I learned something from that experience. The answers are always there – even when things seem impossible. I hadn’t known that adult family home even existed the day before – and now here it was! Just waiting for Dad! Love had this place waiting for him!
Dad lived another three years and the people in his adult family home became like family to us. They are still very dear to me.
And I still feel Mom and Dad with me. We’ve never been separated. Nothing can separate us from Love. We’re connected by Love, forever and ever. Amen.
It was dark and cold and I needed to get out of the house and find some magic.
I drove towards La Conner, took a left, another left, and a right, and ended up at Kohl’s in Burlington. I rarely shop at Kohl’s, but I found myself heading towards their door. I meandered towards the back of the store and looked to the left, and this is where I found magic!
There was a happy little toddler there, busily pushing one of those toy popper mowers and my heart just melted at the sight of him. He was joy personified! I looked around to see who he was with, and found his mom and dad watching him from the aisle. They saw me grinning and laughing, tickled by their little boy, and started laughing with me. After a couple of attempts, I realized the little one’s mom and dad didn’t speak English – I think they were speaking Oaxacan – but we managed to communicate without words, and I was able to let them know I wanted to buy the popper toy for their toddler. They nodded and smiled, and followed me as I went to the cashier to pay for the toy. When I’d bought the popper mower, I brought it back to the little one – who was sitting in the cart now – and thanked him for the pleasure of meeting him today. It – all of it! – was magic!
I wandered around the shopping area for a while then – to See’s for some California brittle – to Petco to watch the fish. And then I drove to Fred’s for some impulse shopping.
I picked up a bag of oranges, a bag of apples, cherry tomatoes, cat food, yogurt, and went to the cashier to pay. She asked me how I was doing and I told her it was cold and dark and I needed to come to Fred’s and buy impulse items. “Like cat food,” I said, “and I don’t even have a cat!” She started laughing with me. I told her nah, I was just joking.
It brings me joy to be with people who know how to laugh with me.
It was still cold and dark outside as I drove home, but now my inside was all warmed up with laughter.
From Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy:
Heart: Mortal feelings, motives, affections, joys, and sorrows. (587: 23)
Man walks in the direction towards which he looks, and where his treasure is, there will his heart be also. (451:14-16)
We should examine ourselves and learn what is the affection and purpose of the heart, for in this way only can we learn what we honestly are. (8:28)
Jesus prayed; he withdrew from the material senses to refresh his heart with brighter, with spiritual views. (32:25)
Through spiritual sense you can discern the heart of divinity, and thus begin to comprehend in Science the generic term man. (258:31)
Who that has felt the loss of human peace has not gained stronger desires for spiritual joy? The aspiration after heavenly good comes even before we discover what belongs to wisdom and Love. The loss of earthly hopes and pleasures brightens the ascending path of many a heart. (265:23-28)
Human affection is not poured forth vainly, even though it meet no return. Love enriches the nature, enlarging, purifying, and elevating it. The wintry blasts of earth may uproot the flowers of affection, and scatter them to the winds; but this severance of fleshly ties serves to unite thought more closely to God, for Love supports the struggling heart until it ceases to sigh over the world and begins to unfold its wings for heaven. (57:22)
The vital part, the heart and soul of Christian Science, is Love. (113:5-6)
Okay, this tickles me. I googled myself (because of course I did), and found this site in France (UBuy) that sells one of my books. I made screenshots from the page. My favorite piece of information from the page was the one that told prospective buyers who might like my book, and who might not. 😀
PUPS!!! So many sweet pups on the boardwalk today! They brought me such joy, filled my heart all up with good things. There were two Lilahs; a Motley; Aspen with her human, Ash, ; Gypsy; my old friend, Daisy, with her buddy, Melody; Akira, who danced down the boardwalk; and my old friend, Baker – who came bounding down the boardwalk to greet me.
The bay was beautiful today, too – blue and shiny, with fog on one side, and the Canadian Coastals on the other.
The road above Taylor Dock to Fairhaven was closed because of construction, so I went up one block to by-pass the blocked street and then came down into Fairhaven from above. I felt Cafe Blue calling to me – I haven’t been there for a while and was missing the welcoming vibe. Cafe Blue has always been packed full of people when I’ve been there, so I mentally prepared myself for that. I figured if I couldn’t find a place to sit, I’d just get a coffee to go and take it with me on my walk back to my car.
Cafe Blue WAS packed again today, but, cosmically, as soon as I got done giving my order and started looking for a table, one opened up! It was a table for four and I felt kind of greedy sitting there – so I put myself in the corner of the table, ready to offer the rest of the table to whoever was looking for a place to sit.
My coffee arrived and I settled into the space, closed my eyes for a minute and just let myself absorb the joy around me. When I opened my eyes I saw a couple of young women who looked like they were looking for a place to sit. I offered them the open seats at my table and they sat there until the table next to mine opened up for them. One of the women, Elena, had cool rings on every finger, and I asked her about them. She said the one on her thumb had been made by her grandma, and the other rings were ones she’d mostly found in shops around Bellingham – rings with art and cool quartz and tiger’s eye rocks. I told her I love rocks, too, and reached for my amber necklace to show it off to her – and then I realized I’d forgotten to wear it today. Elena laughed and said that happens to her, too – just when she wants to show off something, she doesn’t have it with her.
I enjoy the feeling of community I always feel in the Cafe Blue – strangers smiling at each other, sharing tables, becoming friends. That’s the way it should always be.
Fred’s was full of Seahawks fever today. They’ve got this big screen tv set up in the middle of the store with a comfy chair in front of it. Highlights from Seahawks games are playing on the screen, and every time I passed the TV, I stopped to watch for a moment – Bobo catching a touchdown pass; Smith-Njigba running the ball in for six points. So fun!
Today there was a man seated in the comfy chair, watching the highlights with a smile on his face. I recognized him as the man who worked in the big bookstore in the Cascade Mall maybe 30 or 35 years ago. We exchanged smiles and greetings and watched the highlights together for a bit.
There were so many sweet toddlers in Fred’s today – and, being the grandmother of a toddler, I find myself wanting to exchange smiles with each and every sweet one of them. Such joy!
I ran into an old teaching colleague, Rob, at Fred’s. I tailgated him with my cart until he finally turned around to see who was behind him, and then his face lit up in recognition. He smiled and asked how I was doing. I said, “You know…” I asked him how he was doing and he said, “Same.” We gave each other a hug and wished each other a good day and exchanged one more smile before we moved on.
There was a young man in the store – early thirties maybe – and we kept passing each other in the produce section. Every time we’d pass each other, we’d smile. And this young man’s smile was so genuine and kind that I got a sudden image of what he would have looked like as a smiling toddler – and that put a grin on my face.
After I was done with my shopping, I went to the in-store Starbucks to get myself something to drink. There were a couple people waiting in line in front of me. I saw that the barista was manning the counter all by herself – busily whipping up coffees for the people who’d already ordered. And I came to a decision. I leaned into the people in front of me – a woman of maybe my age and a younger woman with a young child in her cart – and I said that I wanted to buy their drinks for them – that way the barista would only have to ring up one transaction.
The younger woman, Kelsey, said she’d feel guilty letting me pay, but the woman of about my age, Shelly, knew that I really wanted to do this for them, and convinced Kelsey to agree to my offer. By this time another young woman had gotten behind us, and I said I wanted to take care of her, too. She initially resisted, but eventually gave in and let me buy for her. I told them that I really needed to do this for MYSELF today.
And so when it was our turn, I stepped up and ordered two cake pops (one each for the younger women’s children), an iced caramel macchiato for Kelsey, and a “senior coffee” for Shelly to bring to her husband, and a hot caramel macchiato for myself. Everyone thanked me, and Shelly said she was going to be sure to “pay it forward” later in the day. It’s amazing how much joy I got from connecting with those women.
There were more smiles as I exited Fred’s with my cart and drink – a customer smiled and motioned for me to go ahead of him; a Fred’s employee who was walking out of the store in front of me, turned around and offered a big smile; another employee smiled and wished me a good day. These little exchanges – these little kindness in life are powerful, my friends.
I smiled the whole way home.
I walk with Love along the way, And O, it is a holy day; No more I suffer cruel fear, I feel God’s presence with me here; The joy that none can take away Is mine; I walk with Love today. – Christian Science Hymnal #139
I’ll be honest, my friends, I had a hard time getting out of bed this morning. A message from a friend finally got me moving. “C’mon, Karen!” I said to myself. “Let’s go!”
I decided to go into La Conner to pay my monthly cable bill. Jeri was in the office today – it’s always good to see her smiling face. I paid my bill and then walked through the town, down the boardwalk, and to the Calico Cupboard for lunch. Along the way I took photos of the Valentines on display, and a little kingfisher that was chittering and chattering, diving and darting among the boats. I love kingfishers! I tried to snap some photos – but I wasn’t quick enough to get any really good pictures of him.
As always, the service and food at the Calico Cupboard was great. I ate my pesto focaccia scramble and drank my coca, while I scrolled through my phone and read my messages. And, after I paid, I gathered up my stuff and headed back to my car. I passed by the La Conner Retirement Inn and waved to the balcony where Mom used to wave to me. I felt her smile on me.
I got to my car and headed out of La Conner. When I got to Best Road I surprised myself by turning right instead of left. Apparently, I wanted to go to Fir Island. And it was on Fir Island that I found swan magic. There was a field of them there, grazing on the grass in front of the Fir Island Lutheran Church and a red barn. Perfect!
I communed with the swans for about ten minutes, snapping photos and absorbing their unperturbed peace.
I really needed the swans today, and the kingfisher, and the cheery Valentine decor. I’m glad I got out of bed to see them.
Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist 