A year ago I wrote a blog post after having lunch with my Airplane Girls. All of us are interested in politics and we were discussing then the condition of our lives and the state of the country just a few months after Trump took office for his second term. He was changing things quickly and decisively, so fast I think the collective head of the citizens of the United States was spinning.
Last week I suggested you go back and read that post as context for today’s follow-up. If you didn’t do it then, the link to it is in the first sentence of this post.
Jill, Sandy, and I (The Airplane Girls) had lunch together last week and took stock of where we are and what we think in relation to that post from last year. We conceded we all thought we’d be much further along in fixing America’s problems than we are. In some ways, it even appears we’ve regressed. None of us ever thought we’d be “at war” with Iran. We certainly didn’t think gas would be a dollar more a gallon than it was then, though eggs have come down in price. Too bad we need far more gas than eggs.
It’s been a big year of personal adjustment and change for 2 of the 3 of us. Last year at this time Sandy was navigating recent widowhood. She moved into a smaller home, found a way to split her time between Florida and Wisconsin where her children and grandchild live, and is moving through the grief process. She anticipates this next year will be a time of discovering who she is standing on her own.
Of course, for me, personally, it has been a very eventful year. I had no idea I’d face my 3rd round of breast cancer and choose to have a mastectomy. Or that now, Randy and I are facing Randy’s very serious cancer diagnosis. You just never know. Living a life you love is precious, but it can turn so quickly to something you never expected. It’s good practice to make every day a good day. And don’t go to bed mad at your spouse.
On a micro and macro level I guess we can conclude that while some things are better, some things are not. And isn’t that just how life goes??
It’s said that the only constant in life is change. That’s probably true. Change can be good and it can be bad. Change might be necessary, or it might be really stupid to “change horses in the middle of a stream.” And it’s absolutely true that if you want something to change, you have to change something.
How one reacts to change is, I think, a measure of emotional intelligence.
I had a long discussion once with a woman who had several very difficult life changes thrust upon her. Her husband had died unexpectedly and several years later, as she and I had this discussion, she was still angry and bitter. She felt she had a right to be that way because she hadn’t chosen that path for her life.
I, as patiently and lovingly as I was able (because she really was trying to be around), explained to her how change can make or break you. But it’s always a choice. We don’t get to choose what happens to us, especially when it unexpectedly shakes up the status quo in your life. But we always get to choose how we react to what happens to us. And that reaction dictates what kind of life we live on a day-to-day basis. Hers stunk. I vowed to never be like her.
I am shocked that Trump either started or has allowed us to participate in this “war” in Iran. He’s always said he’s the president of peace. The Trump haters out there are giddy with their “I told you so” attitude. I’m rational enough to consider that there must be a good reason why this is happening now. I look back to the same shock I felt when the United States military went into Venezuela and pulled Maduro out of there. I believe there was a good reason for that, and that “operation” is now long behind us.
There is no question Trump is really and truly shaking the change tree in America. It’s still to be seen whether the changes he obviously thinks we need will hurt or benefit America and Americans.
But it’s also said that the definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting a different result. I believe that’s the motivation for the incredible, lightning round of changes Trump subjected (and continues to subject) the world to in the first year of his second presidency. Some of them are like swallowing cod liver oil. It’s icky, and we don’t want to take the medicine. But if we want to get well, we just gotta do it, no matter how short-term the unpleasantness is.
I can’t say I’m better or worse off today than I was at this time last year. Personally, Randy and I are facing things we were completely ignorant of a year ago. I’d like to turn back the clock and go in a different direction. That’s impossible, of course. Sandy, as I said, is moving forward along a path that was determined earlier than a year ago. Jill, whose biggest change in this last year was acquiring a Master Gardener Certification (you go, girl!) has, happily, had a relatively uneventful year from a personal life change perspective.
I still think it’s useful and interesting to check in once a year, to review what’s changed, and if it’s necessary, to make intentional course corrections. So, a year from now I’ll mark my calendar to write another post, and we’ll check in again.
I pray each of you is on a road that leads to personal growth, even when it may be unintended and painful. And I pray for America, and the world. America and the world truly need all the prayers we can sent to the heavens on their behalf.
P.S. Randy is fighting against his foreign invaders with everything he’s got. This afternoon he has his second immunotherapy infusion. The cavalry is coming!
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