Round Tables and Milkshakes

The sun didn't exactly come out after the election.  It was rainy and windy, making  soggy lumps of political signs before blowing them down the street.  I was glad that I had the excuse of staying home with the kids, who were too upset to go to school.  (Well, the girls were, and it wouldn't have been fair to send Josh.  He would be complaining about it for the rest of his life.)

Karen called me during her lunch break and asked how I was doing.  She said the kids at the middle school where she is librarian were very subdued, which was peaceful, but weird, if not creepy,  The guidance department was scheduling discussion groups ("round tables") and private conferences  Of course, I had to ask her how she was doing, and she said, "As well as can be expected."  It might have been my imagination, but I think she was sniffling.

When I went back to work the next day, everyone was subdued there, too.  It turned out that I wasn't the only one who had stayed home, so it wasn't as anticlimactic as I thought it would be. The men looked like they wanted to grumble, but didn't say much.  The women kept patting each other and sighing. At lunch they were either too upset to eat or ordered pizza and milkshakes.  I wanted to get away from the misery, so I went out to the snack bar and watched the students sit around looking like they were at an funeral and/or were hung over from drowning their sorrows.

Emily and Alice called to ask how I was doing.  Emily was in love, so she was fine , and Alice was looking on the whole thing as material.

Kate apologized for not calling sooner, but she had her hands full with Janet, not to mention Missy and the entire congregation of Epiphany.  For a change, I asked her how she felt about it all,  and she said she was praying for guidance and "spending time with Jesus."  I almost asked her how He felt about everything, but caught myself in time.

Ed just snorted if anyone brought up the election.

I thought everyone would settle down or perk up with the holidays.  The children did, although Cilla said she was praying to the Blessed Virgin Mother to save us all.

But most of the adults were talking about impeachment or complaining that they didn't feel festive and didn't know if they should.  I threw myself into everything, which helped.  What I really needed help with was being around all those angry or depressed people.  Karen said that I was in denial.  Nikki said, "That works for me."  She did admit that she and Helmut had talked about moving to Germany, where at least they had a woman Chancellor, but Jenny and Ilse fussed about leaving their friends, Helmut liked his job, and she couldn't face a move, much less her mother-in-law.

So things are continuing.  They will continue for three years and seven months.  Unless something happens.

Kate has a poster in her office that says,

"When things go wrong, you can worry or you can pray.

You might as well pray,"

That works for me.