Friday Tidings

I’m still in Facebook Jail, well not me, but the page I created to feature my weekly blog, Friday Tidings. I’ve been told by fellow jail mates, that anyone can turn you in, and to be safe, Facebook disables your account until they can sort it all out. Typically, you can be released anywhere from a day to three days. But certainly, no longer than three weeks. Usually. I hereby confess, before the Facebook Court of Judgement, that after reviewing ten years and over 500 posts, about 20 of them dealt with politics. The whole theme of Friday Tidings is journeying through life and the experiences we share—and that includes the nation and its election of leaders.  So as I scrolled through my old posts, there were commentaries during the election years. Back in 2015, I wasn’t particularly fond of the idea that Donald Trump was running, and I was surprised when he got the nomination. I’d written posts about Hillary and  President Obama. But those were years ago. I’ve purposely tur...

This post is not meant to promote or condemn sex education in public schools—it’s meant to congratulate a small group of Washington citizens who garnered a record number of signatures during a pandemic, allowing Referendum 90 to be on November’s ballot. The intent of Referendum 90 is to allow voters a chance to weigh-in on Washington’s comprehensive sex-ed measure passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Jay Inslee late last year. Whitney Holz of Informed Parents of Washington was overwhelmed by the support of parents and community members as they gathered signatures. Their issue with the current law is that it doesn’t allow enough local control. The Informed Parents are not against sex education in school—but are concerned with losing the opportunity to have input into the programs selected and how it is presented to children.  Certainly there are those who may not want any sex ed in schools, and regardless if Referendum 90 passes, parents can opt their kids ou...

We’ve all had that influential boss in our lives—or hopefully you will in the future. This kind of boss leads the way, refines your skills, and demonstrates how to get the job done, so you can learn to do it yourself. My first boss was the kind-hearted type that saw me as I was, but also must have seen what I could be eventually. I’m one who learns through plenty of trial and error, so when it comes to complicated tasks, my boss must have needed extra patience with me. And it wasn’t as if there weren’t new things to keep learning, yet she was there for me, day after day, reviewing, encouraging, and at times doing it herself to make sure it was done correctly. As I learned and developed skills, she seemed to inspire me to do more—take on more, and be responsible for more. But on many occasions, more than I am probably aware, she took the blame for my mistakes, my costly errors, and my actions that led to situations, that required her to take the shame for me. When it was time for me...

A friend shared this C.S. Lewis quote: Children are not a distraction from more important work, They are the most important work.  In the middle of my action-packed day of two-year-old babysitting, I realized that the future of this little girl’s world relies on many of the decisions being made today. While I can’t control the outcome of many things, I can control the amount of time I devote to the most important work—children. This little girl’s energy to explore reminds me that she is seeing a whole new world full of possibilities. I need to be willing to see a world of possibilities too, or she will have fewer of them in her future. In another room of her home, my teenage grandson is mastering the concepts of pre-calculus. Online learning is his life now—even though he deeply misses the high school life he had.  He deserves possibilities too. He'll be voting in three years, and the possibilities he needs matter sooner than later. Upstairs in a small room, these k...

Tuesday looked like it would be a perfect day in the mountains—clear skies and warm temperatures. Hiking in the Olympic Mountains typically involves steep terrain, with little to no cell phone service.   Talk about a getaway. At the trailhead, I looked at my phone and saw the ominous message, “No Service”. I smiled. That meant no social media for a whole day—a break from the political minefield that it has become. In our 40 plus years together, my husband and I haven’t done much hiking together. But in our few recent attempts, we’ve seen our compatibility issues—I hike faster, and he stops to take more pictures. Since I’m in front, I’m the one who typically scares off the wildlife, but he’s the one carrying the bear spray. Oh well. I think Tom hikes because I enjoy it. If you need another definition of love, that’s it. We planned an 8-mile traipse through the high country to discover the views we’d seen only in photos.   We weren’t disappointed—coming around an outcroppin...