Thoughts

#1. Run for your lives! Hurricane Ike is coming! He'll suck on his hand, coo, and then fuss until you nurse him!
OK I probably shouldn't joke about a potentially dangerous hurricane. But come on! Hurricane Ike! Has Hurricane Ikey-Wikey already been used? Why didn't they go with that?

#2. Our refridgerator is broken. We came home from our St. Louis trip on Monday night and didn't open the fridge. On Tuesday morning when I went to make breakfast for the kids, it was all warm and everything in the freezer was melted. I had two entire pizzas cut up and ready for John's lunches that had to be thrown away. GRRR. We called a local repairman who was here for 3 hours on Tuesday and replaced the compressor for $450. Yesterday I replaced all the food we lost, about $120, and when we went to have some ice cream last night it was all mushy. So, we called the guy back, and he was here for 90+ minutes last night trying to fix it again. Well, this morning it's still not working right. It's a little bit cold, but not nearly as cold as it should be. So, we called the guy for the third time and I took the $120 worth of food over to Trish's house, she was nice enough to let me squeeze it into her fridge. I am really hoping we'll get to the bottom of this today. Kevin said to give the guy a break, because occasionally he has to fix Cobalt products multiple times too. :) So, break being given.

#3. Kevin and I are thinking about politics a lot lately, for obvious reasons. It is fun. We have great conversations about it, it's something we enjoy together and it brings us together. We've talked about politics all the way back to our first few dates 11 years ago. Of course that makes us big dorks but I'm OK with that. Presidential elections remind me of a game of chess. What will the next move be, how far out have you planned your strategy, who has a trick up their sleeve. It is fun to watch, fun to guess and wonder what will happen next. It is hard for me to take all the policy declarations and experience fights and here's my tax plan and all of that seriously, because both candidates are playing a game to win. They are both making very calculated choices and decisions based on what will win the presidency for them, not really thinking about what is actually possible for a president to do once in office. (My favorite Democratic salvo: "Green Collar Jobs.") They are saying what they think will gain them the affections of certain groups of people. I think this is why the general public is so unhappy with the policital system in our country, because it's obvious that there is little substance there.
Yes I have conservative political views and I'm OK with that too. I am not going to apologize for this although I know some people would like me to feel bad about it. I don't feel bad. In fact, it makes me so sad when people allow opinions and beliefs to divide them. This is something I have felt strongly in my life for several years now. We can respect each other even if we think different things. There is no reason for friends to fall out over a simple disagreement over an issue. My love for my friends and family is more important than my ideology about anything. Obviously there are no two people in the world who think and feel exactly the same. We all have something to learn from each other. I am not so sure of myself that I believe I am right about everything. I think it is a positive and healthy thing for all of us to be exposed to different ideas and evaluate them for ourselves. This is one reason why I do not want to homeschool our kids, I believe it is too insular. (Feel free to disagree with me! Ha ha.) I think it is healthy and important for the kids to take their own ideas and beliefs and go out into the world with them, comparing and contrasting them to the things other people have to share. Christ calls us to be in the world and not of the world, to take what we know and love and share it with others. We are not called to convince everyone to think exactly the same thing as us about everything or write them off.
I guess it is just human nature to surround yourself with people like you. And of course you meet people in the places where you live your life. I have friends at the kids' school, friends at our church, friends in our neighborhood, friends from college. (I am even lucky enough to have friends from high school, and my friend Sara who I have known since I was two years old!) But unfortunately I have had people in my life who chose to end our relationship over ideology. This is so, so sad to me. I have actually lost friends over my decision to have c-sections rather than "natural births" (don't even get me started). I have lost friends because of my ideas about music in the Church. I have lost friends because I chose not to spank my kids. And don't those things seem so small now, so unimportant? Is that really what our relationship was, these small things that we disagree about?
I believe that the purpose of my life is to love and be available to the people around me. What a gift in this day and age, availability. I am here and I care about you, I want to listen to you, spend time with you, know about you. I don't have to work, I don't have a meeting, I don't have something else to do. That is the gift I have to give and don't we all want more of that in our lives? This issue or that issue is so small compared to loving a person and being loved by them.
So, it is OK if you disagree with me politically. That is fine with me. And, we can even talk about it. I won't insult you or attack you personally. I won't decide that you aren't worth my time anymore because we disagree.

Wow, talk about waxing philosophical this morning! I don't know where all that came from. I guess just having some time to sit and think while the kids are at school and Ikey is sleeping, and this is what comes out. :P

#4. On a much, much lighter note...Jen and I are going to Cakes on Walnut tonight. I will report back on said cupcakes tomorrow.