Celebrate, People

The Good, the Delightful, and the Hopeful

78 Comments

The Good

Last Tuesday we went to Cushnoc in Augusta to celebrate our daughter Dee’s birthday. It is one of her favorite places, and I must admit that they have mighty fine pizza.

We started out with drinks, a coconut tequila concoction with a Halloween surprise.

Did I eat those gummy worms? Yes, I did. I might be old in body, but I am young in spirit, and I still have a fondness for chewy candy.

We ordered pizza

and nachos. Both were delicious.

As we ate, we enjoyed the fall decorations, the reflections inside and out.

We had a jolly good time, all the more fun for going out in the middle of the week, which we seldom do. Happy birthday, Dee!

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The Delightful

On Saturday, Clif and I went to a craft fair with our books, and a woman stopped by our table. We chatted for a bit, and I mentioned I grew up in Vassalboro, which is where my Great Library Series begins.

“Vassalboro?” she asked, giving me a keen look.

“Yes,” I replied. “My name was Laurie Meunier then.”

“Laurie!” she exclaimed. “I’m Cristina Lewis.”

“Oh, my God! Cristina!”

In seventh and eighth grade, we were really good friends.

“Sleep-over friends,” Cris said.

Yes, sleep-over friends.

But after we graduated from eighth grade, we went to different high schools, and we grew apart. I haven’t seen her since we started high school, all those long years ago.

She gave me a hug, I gave her a book, and we are now Facebook friends.

What an absolute delight to reconnect with Cris. It was the highlight of my weekend, and I hope to get together with her sometime soon.

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The Hopeful

In the United States, tomorrow is Election Day. My blog is not a political blog, and mostly I stay away from political topics, which I know can be very polarizing.

However, this election is so consequential that I felt I must write about it at least a little. The historian Michael Beschloss has called it the most consequential election since 1860 and 1940, and at The New Yorker Festival he said, “I think Donald Trump meets most of the parts of the definition of the word ‘fascist,’ ”

Longtime readers will know that I am left, left of center, a liberal or a progressive or whatever you want to call it. In the past, my candidate of choice was the inimitable Bernie Sanders with Elizabeth Warren being a close second. I believe that the role of government is to help folks deal with the complexities and the astounding costs of modern life. I am a firm supporter of a strong social safety net, and I admire the Nordic countries that provide this.

Tomorrow, without hesitation, I will be voting for Kamala Harris and hoping that we will at last elect a woman to be president of our country—someone who cares about all the people, not just those at the top; someone who respects the rule of law and who will concede graciously if the vote goes for Donald Trump; someone who will continue the progress made by Joe Bidden; someone who does not admire authoritarian rulers in other countries; someone who believes in a woman’s right to make choices about her own body.

Then there is Donald Trump, a convicted felon and a Putin admirer, a would-be tyrant who uses alarming words to describe what should happen to his opponents. Someone who bragged about grabbing women and how he could get away with it. Someone who incited his supporters to violence on January 6 and did nothing to stop it. I hope this election is the last we hear from Donald Trump, that he slinks back to Mar-a-Lago and leaves this country to heck alone.

In 2008 and 2012, even though I voted for Barack Obama, I respected both his opponents—John McCain and Mitt Romney, conservatives who nevertheless would have worked with Democrats to pass legislation for the good of the country. I remember how honorable both men were when they were defeated. How different Trump is from either of them.

To conclude on an upbeat note: one of the things that I especially like about Kamala Harris is her laugh. It makes me smile every time I hear it, and on Saturday Night Live, her laugh was the focus of the opening skit. Watch it and smile.

Fingers, toes, and everything else crossed that this lady with the wonderful laugh becomes the next president of the United States.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

78 thoughts on “The Good, the Delightful, and the Hopeful”

  1. Fingers so firmly crossed! Michael and I are going to go vote first thing tomorrow!

    And on the happier parts of this post – Happy Birthday Dee! And yay to connecting with old friends! 🙂

  4. What an amazingly wonderful surprise to meet a school friend from so long ago. That’s really special. And, Laurie, your analysis of the choices the U.S. faces is spot on. We’re all rooting for you from the other side of the border. 🙏🙏🙏🤞

  9. lovely to catch up with a friend from school.. that doesn’t happen very often.
    Re the election, I’m with you all the way, Laurie, these are difficult times, and it must be very stressful for you all (and the world generally.) Our very best wishes for a continuing democracy.

    1. No, meeting an old friend like that seldom happens.

      Oh, this election! Thanks so much for the kind wishes. Yes, a very stressful time. And this election not only affects us but also the world. We will be up late tonight watching the news.

  10. How lovely to unexpectedly meet a childhood friend after so many years! And happy belated birthday to Dee.

    Last but not least, I wholeheartedly share your hopes about the outcome of the election!

  12. Her appearance on SNL was SO KAMALA! She is a real person, smart, caring, competent, and it’s about time we had women in power positions. The fact that she’s a mixed-race child of immigrants is a bonus! I don’t know what I’ll do if the Orange Horror wins. I have dual citizenship (UK), but at my age it would be hard to relocate. I would probably hunker down in my little arty/liberal community of like-minded people. (Not my town: this is red-meat Texas!) Fingers, crossed prayers, light candles and hope good prevails over evil!

  14. A wonderful birthday celebration; great to meet up with a lovely person from your past; and an excellent perspective of the choices everyone in your country are going to have to make today.

  15. Such delightful times you have had.

    I agree wholeheartedly with what you say about the US election. The world is holding it’s breath. It seems like fiction – the balance between good and evil – and I know that simplifies it, but it feels like the fate of humanity rests on the vote of a very few it seems.

    1. Good to have those delightful times at our back because today is stressful, that’s for sure. Heartbreaking to thinkvhow this election not only affects us, but also the rest of the world. In The New Yorker, Adam Gopnik described Trump as a villian. I think he is right.

  18. Happy birthday to Dee and what a beautiful reconnection with your old friend Laurie! We are all keeping our fingers crossed across the pond for your election tomorrow too 💖🙏 xxx

  19. Next time we come to Maine I want to eat there as we both love pizza and good nachos! Happy Birthday to Dee. I am glad you posted your political thoughts. Today is election day and I am up early (we voted early this year for the first time ever) and will be glued to the news for the next few days. We are on the “same page” politically and yes I love Kamala’s laugh also. Pray for our country.

    1. Cushnoc has such good pizza! If you do come to Maine and have time, please get in touch so that we can meet for lunch. Love getting together with blogging friends.

      As for the election…Holy cats, it’s stressful! Yes, pray for our country. We, too, will be glued to the news.

  20. Happy Birthday Dee!

    Meeting up with old friends we have lost touch with is so good.

    I don’t have a vote but like you I am all for caring for those who find life hard. The clip of Kamala Harris laughing will not play because NBC has blocked it on copyright grounds over here. I have been listening to various podcasts exploring the rise of far right politics and its causes – interesting but scary! It seems the very groups the more left wing politicians would hope to help are the ones voting far right. Fear and powerlessness are powerful drivers of hate.

  21. Happy Birthday to Dee! And your reconnection with your childhood friend is a wonderful thing! That is a heartwarming story for staring the day.

    As for today, all one can do is prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

  22. We were just in Gouldsboro. Beautiful as always. First rain we have seen in many weeks. The political divide between urban/well educated and rural/economically marginalized was very evident. Hoping for the best.

  23. Happy belated birthday to Dee — sounds like a grand celebration! And how wonderful, re-connecting with a good friend from long ago. And to think you wouldn’t have met that day, had you and Clif not gone to that book show! Now you’ve got me hungry for pizza!

  24. This post is good and very hopeful. I voted for Ms. Harris a few days ago. Michigan finally agreed to do early voting, so we had 9 days of it. It made things so much easier, and I was more comfortable voting early, at a polling place, v.s. mailing or dropping off a ballot. Early voting allowed me to come to AL and spend some time with my siblings (who are probably voting for Trump, but I’m not asking), one of which I haven’t seen since the summer of 22. I have no tv where I am, but I can sit in the car and listen to CNN tonight, if I can stand to do it. No social media for me tonight, I just can’t take it!

    1. I’m glad you could vote early. It takes some of the pressure off. I voted for Kamala Harris as well, and I’m hopeful and full of gratitude that she could be on the ballot this year.

  25. Laurie, there is so much at stake. I’m glad you’ve shared your views in this post. I’ve always been on the left, and voted excitedly for Obama both times. I voted for Hillary, too, in my own garage when we offered it as a polling place. My son turned 18 that June, and he cast his first vote at home. I remember going to bed early that night when we realized the results were inevitable and I also remember waking up the next day and feeling like someone had died. It’s unfathomable to me that we are here once again, a qualified woman running against this despicable human being. I’m hopeful, but anxious, and bewildered that the polls aren’t 90/10%.

    I am delighted to hear about your chance encounter with a childhood friend! I’m glad you recognized each other, and that you are now connected on Facebook. It was sweet of you to give her a copy of your book.

    Happy belated birthday to Dee. You can never go wrong with nachos and pizza!

  26. Birthday wishes to Dee. Meeting an old friend is a nice coincidence. During our US visit last week we saw so many signs from supporters, especially in the countryside. It was quite unusual for us.

  27. The US election is dominating news broadcasts here this morning, and what gloomy news it is. Time to hold on tight, I think, it’s going to be a rough ride for us all, whichever side of the Pond we call home. I feel in need of a large slab of chocolate cake!

    1. Thanks so much for the kind words. I am heartbroken, simply heartbroken. In the past, I have made it a point not to judge people in other countries too harshly for the government they have. I hope others will do the same for us. Yes, chocolate cake, chocolate anything! And lots of it.

  28. Thank you for adding your thoughts re the politics. I, too, write about gardening and books but there are times when one has to speak up. I’m going to start sharing the link and a quotation from Heather Cox Richardson’s daily letter, which I will put under a separator line at the bottom of my posts, like I did with news stories during the pandemic. In 2016-2020, my posts about our daily lives also included going on various marches and demonstrations (women’s march, earth day, march for science, etc). I’m eight years older and now use a rollator so not sure if I’ll be doing that this time, not even sure how effective it is in a small town (we live near Astoria, Oregon) but it does give comfort to other like minded locals.

    It is a comfort to live in a blue state.

    In one of her talks, Heather recently said she likes to go out to ice cream at a place forty minutes (I think) from her house that sometimes had a broken ice cream machine and they now have the legal right to repair it themselves. Maybe sometime next summer when you and Clif go out, you will end up at the same ice cream place.

  29. Dee’s birthday celebration looks like such fun, Laurie. Not low carb, but hey, it’s a birthday! And how fun to run into an old “sleep over” buddy. I love that. Finally, I wish your election wishes had come through. It’s a sad day today for the US and the world. I don’t think the US will recover from what’s coming in my lifetime. Keep being your kind self. That’s all there’s left to do.

  30. I share your political sentiments and am still digesting the election outcome. It’s been a day of keeping my equilibrium; reminding myself that I am okay today. We scattered some wild flower seeds in a garden bed this afternoon. If they make it to Spring, I wonder what kind of America they will find.

      1. I have little hope; I’m thankful nature will continue anyway. I was ready to listen to Vice President Harris’ concession speech this morning. Through some tears. She’s such a class act. And so inspiring.

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