My husband, daughter Justine, and newly born son Gray lived in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1992. We didn't have any grand plans for our life yet. Mostly we were trying to raise the kids. My husband saw a television commercial that featured the beautiful rocky shores of Maine and that became his dream. That we would load up the moving van and begin a new life in paradise.
Without much thought, I gave in easily and said sure. Why not? So we packed up and moved to Portland. The first night we got here and drove through the dark streets, it seemed like a dream come true. It was very romantic in a way. We were going to start a new life and being in a new town we could do it any way we wanted. No one knew us. It was like being given permission to become the people we always dreamed of being.
It was totally the right choice. We had a wonderful life here full of all the fun and interesting things we dreamed of doing. The ocean was minutes away. We found a wonderful school for the kids. My husband and I ended up being heavily involved in school activities and that was really awesome. We made friends. Joined a church. I became a Catholic. The kids flourished. Life was good.
Fate intervened in good and bad ways. My husband died in 2002 from a freak bicycle accident that threw him off and onto the pavement, causing a major head injury. He died two week later at Maine Med. My daughter met and married the man of her dreams and became a professional wedding photographer. My son met a wonderful woman and started to create beautiful artwork. I left my job at their school and went to work at a cleaning company and found a new vocation. Life was still really good.
Bad and horrible things had happened and we had dealt with them as a family and come out the other side. Good and wonderful things had happened and we embraced those and enjoyed them.
I live in a different house than the one my husband and I bought together when we moved here. I sold that house and bought a house just for me. It was quite an experience. I love my house, my yard, my independence. I have three cats that I adore. I have a guest room for when my parents come to visit. I have a big yard for my son-in-law's sister and parents to bring their dogs to frolic. My kids and their significant others and I get together every Thursday night for dinner and fun activities.
It's the life I always dreamed about.
The candidate Barack Obama was not just some guy running for President. He was a revelation for our family. My kids adore him. I adore him. He is not perfect, he is not always right, he struggles sometimes to do what we want him to do for our country. But I believe that he is a good and fine man and that he does all he can with his limited power to make things right for all of us. He is up against the most obstructionist Congress imaginable and despite their stupid and petty crap, he has gotten some things done. I try to imagine what he could have accomplished with a Congress that did not act like a 4-year-old having a tantrum. Great and huge and amazing things, no doubt.
The Ring Wing hatred for him knows no bounds. They froth at the mouth at the very sight of him. He is boxed up against the wall in the worst way due to their criminal incompetance and hatred. I am shocked that he managed to get anything done at all. They have fought him every step of the way. It's horrifying. They would kill us all first before they would give him one inch.
I still believe in the President. I still love him. I still adore him. I still believe that he could and would do great things. Imagine what could have been accomplished with a Democrat run Congress. Holy crap, it would've been awesome.
I am not sure anymore that he can win this time around. Voters for the most part are stupid and they believe the lies and fabrications. Look at old Mittens.......splicing together sentences to frame the Prez with things he did not say. Many will see that, hear that and believe it. They won't even bother to fact check on the internet they pay for to see if it's true. The right-wing hack job websites will do the rest of the damage. They will bury him in lies and Mitt I'm-So-Rich-And-So-Much-Better-Than-You will win and way too late people will realize what they've done. That they elected a psychopathic monster to be the President.
I have deceided that if Obama loses, I am going to sell my house to my daughter and son-in-law and I am going to drive straight upwards until I reach Canada. I will find a nice house to buy. I will live in a beautiful neighborhood. I will eventually achieve residency and then I will qualify for that Universal Healthcare that some of us have been waiting our whole lives for. And I will try to be happy. My kids can visit pretty easily. From Portland, it's about a 5 or 6 hour drive.
I refuse to live in The United States of America with a man like Mitt Romney pretending to The President. Going through the motions. Gloating because he always dreamed of being The Prez and through his huge wealth, he made it happen. I cannot even imagine the devastation to the economy, the laws, the regulations, the plight of the poor and disadvantaged in his Presidency. It sounds truly catastrophic.
I can't watch. I can't be a part of the destruction of the country that I love. The rabid, crazy, unhinged, wing-nut arm of the GOP will fully be unleashed then, and God help everyone at that point. Just thinking about this makes me feel so sad that I can't even think about it too long. I have never felt so hopeless or so devastated personally. It's like the death of America if Mitt wins. "They" will laugh and point and gloat and come up with even more ridiculous and horrible ways to stick it to us. And we'll be helpless for a long time.
My family and I are going to have a balls to the wall Election Night party where we will stay up until the bitter end. It's going to either end in screams and whooping it up of joy and elation...........or gnashing of the teeth and bitter torrents of tears and recriminations. Either way it's going to be intense. My stomach is in knots already and it's only July. I hope I make it.
