Nineteen Months

I am so late this month. It's almost comical. This is what happens when your monthly birthday falls on a weekend. And this past weekend was a whirlwind. Daddy decided he wanted to build the Pergola over the new patio himself. But he needed help - and he wanted the advice of Andpa who apparently is a "master carpenter". So Andpa drove out from Minnesota, and brought your great Uncle Dick with him. Who also is apparently a "master carpenter." Before I go much further, I will say that the end result is gorgeous. But it wasn't without a little pain. These Larson men...they do a lot of talking. And standing around. And analyzing each other's work. And re-measuring. And not cutting. As your daddy likes to say: "It's all about the process." Yep - but it's a process I don't understand.

There's been so much going on in the world the last few weeks. I am worried about your future. I am worried about my future. Will we have enough money to retire? Will have enough money to send you to school? Will we always have health insurance? Will you have access to the best jobs when you're ready? Will the state of our environment cause you irreparable harm in any way? Hadley - it is of VITAL IMPORTANCE that the moment you turn 18 you register to vote. Your daddy and I sit here in agony waiting for the next 8 weeks to pass so we know if we need to move to Canada or not. I wish I were kidding. If John McCain and crazy Sarah Palin move into that White House instead of Barack Obama, I am terrified for what it means to our future. Gramps sent me an email today that summarizes the COMPLETE AND TOTAL INSANITY of this campaign and how completely crazy many of the residents of the US are - here it is:

I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....

If you grow up in Hawaii , raised by your grandparents, you're 'exotic, different.' (Obama)

Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, a quintessential American story. (Palin)

If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim. (Obama)

Name your kids Willow , Trig and Track, you're a maverick. (Palin)

Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable. (Obama)

Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded. (Palin)

If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senaterepresenting a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience. (Obama)

If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive. (Palin)

If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian. (Obama)

If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian. (McCain)

If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society. (Obama and any other reasonable Democrat)

If , while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant , you're very responsible. (Palin)

If your wife is a Harvard graduate laywer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's. (Obama)

If you're husband is nicknamed 'First Dude', with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA , your family is extremely admirable. (Palin)

OK, much clearer now.



You see, my beautiful, brilliant, independent, strong daughter - there are people out there (Republicans) who want to leave the future of this country in the hands of billionaire oil moguls. Men who could care less about the condition of the environment, the cost of health insurance, the cost of education, the lack of education actually taking place in US public schools, religious freedom...men who only care about tax breaks for the rich, religious freedom for radical Christians only, sending your future job overseas to save money, the right to arm convicted drug dealers with war-grade weapons on city streets, and reminding us just how little "freedom" Americans really have. As your mother, it is my complete and total responsibilty to raise a responsible, well educated and well informed child. I promise to try to not influence your personal political beliefs with mine (but you will have to listen to me for the rest of your life whether or not you agree with me). But I will require this of you: be informed. Make your decisions based on all the facts available to you. Don't follow a path because it is the easiest to follow. And don't be afraid to stand up for what you believe in. Sometimes in life it will seem like you are standing alone in the dark. And sometimes you will be. And it's OK to be afraid in those moments. But my hope for you is that we raise you to know when to be strong and when to tolerate the dark long enough to know there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

Here's to the light in 8 weeks.


"Not only will we have to repent for the sins of bad people; but we also will have to repent for the appalling silence of good people"

-- Martin Luther King, Jr.



iloveyoumadly.
mama