Sick of it.

Yesterday, before the protest, we drove to the rollerrink. She had a donation of 40 skate passes (skate rentals included) for our Helping Hands Toy Giveaway. I was delighted by her donation. Last year, we were a bit light on gifts for older kids. They donated 40 passes, which dumbfounded me. Even more surprising? She had 3 large bags of brand new toys. There had to be a couple dozen of them. The stuff on top seemed to be radio controlled cars. Things that would delight older boys. Not finished, she carried out a dozen rolls of gift wrap and tags.

I thanked her, but it seemed inadequate. She waved me off.

We went to the storage unit and met up with another woman and her son. They were donating a Thomas the Train railroad set. A Hotwheels racing track. Another thing I didn't quite understand, but I am sure that any adolescent boy will see that and know exactly what it is. The thing that was so sweet about that was that they had carefully sorted, cleaned and boxed up their donations. The thing that I did not quite understand was in its plastic carrying case. 

When we carried things inside, she looked around. She said, "wait...you are taking games?" 

"We sure are. Everything. Puzzles. Books. Anything like that."

She looked at her son. He said, "We have got a lot of things!" She said, "Let us do some sorting. We will be in touch." 

Tim and I locked up. We still had time before the protest, so we stopped into the Goodwill in town. We had not been there for a while. We ran into my young hippie friend. 

it is odd, this friendship. About 3 years ago, he just started talking. He had been locked into a dysfunctional relationship. I think he just needed a sympathetic ear. His girlfriend would leave, and come back, only to leave, and then come back again. Tall, skinny, tattooed, deadlocked, pierced...for all of that, he looked like a lost puppy as he told me the story.

I had read a book, so I explained the 'Let them' philosophy. About seeing people for what they were. Accepting what they are. Letting them go. 

He said, 'She has another guy.'

'Let her.' 

'They are living together.'

'Let them.'

I had watched the comprehension light his face.  The next time I saw him, he had a new tattoo to show me. In cursive it said simply 'Let Them'

When Tim and I walked in yesterday, I saw him and called out a greeting. After a year and a half, he'd heard from his old girlfriend. I looked at him. "So, what did you do?" He said, "I told her not to call me anymore." I said, "There you go. Good job!"

As I walked away, I heard him tell his coworker, "She is so great." Made me smile.

Tim and I went back and looked at games. $1.49 each, and there were tons of things that looked as if they had never been played. We picked up a cartful of stuff and headed for the register. It came to $24.00 even. We dropped them off at the storage unit. 

Seriously, we literally have hundreds of toys already, and it makes me so happy to think of it. 

After that, we went to the protest. Lots of support. I was tickled to see a couple waving and tooting. They recognized me from the fair. It was Lou and Lynn, two 90 year old teachers. We had talked at length at the Democratic booth.  A big tractor trailer went by blasting his horn and giving us a thumbs up. We laughed to see that he was from Ontario. We all planned for next week's 'No Kings'. I love these people. 

We came home. Tim worked in his garage. I cleaned the chicken coop. I finished pulling the garden, weeding the beds and topping everything with a couple inches of composted manure. It was a good day to work outside.

There is a lot of good things in my world, and I am trying to focus on all that. I am not going to lie. Current events have really been overwhelming

Those Trump accounts? Even  Dave Ramsey dismisses them as 'a political stunt'. He advises to take the seed money but not invest their own money. They are tied to the stock market. The money can be lost. When you have a president and high level insider trading, my question: is this a scam to get more money in the stock market for rich people to get their hands on?

Kim Guilfoyle peddling access to power for hundreds of thousands. 

Just weeks ago, we were threatening 100% tariffs on China and India for buying Russian oil. Now  we are buying it.

Ukraine hit a Russian data center. Turned out to be a major hub in the whole Russian bot system. Sharp decline in pro trump propaganda.

Trump sorely aggrieved he did not win the Nobel prize again. Claims it is "a stain on Norway".

The situation is devolving at such a rate, it is hard to keep up with. Every single time I watch the news, there is something new. Every fucking day.

I shut off the news and ponder the happy things in my corner of the world.