Our New Fence

Since we got our fence, I’ve been spending more time outside despite the bugs, which fortunately aren’t as bad as they could be thanks to a good pest control company.

This morning I was out back with Duke and Olive who are visiting for the weekend while their humans are out of town for the long weekend. I enjoyed my first cup of coffee while listening to cicadas and watching the dogs explore and play. It was lovely.

I had already done my morning Sun Salutations, which I do every morning while waiting for my first cup to brew but decided that doing them in the sun would be even more beneficial. It was. It felt good to stretch like that in the warmth of the sun. And I do mean warm. It was already 80° outside at 8:30 in the morning and the humidity was already thick, but I found myself reveling in it.

I love it here. Not just because my beautiful wife is here, which would be enough for anyone, but because this place really feels like home. I belong here like I’ve never belonged anywhere else before. Who’d have thought a brick house with big trees in a small town in Tennessee could have such a hold on me?

I discovered some disturbing news recently and have been processing some intense emotions. I could not be more grateful for having such a safe space in which to do that.

My wife, our pets, our home, my sanctuary and refuge.

I do worry about how easy it is not to leave this space for days on end, to stay in this little bubble. I’m not an extrovert but I am social, so I am grateful for the opportunities to socialize with my book club and American Legion activities.

When I first started learning about the tenets of Buddhism I put all things Christian and Military in my past, but here my ties to both can be my tethers to fit into this community. I’ve done some serious deconstruction around Christianity, and I will never again identify in any way as a Christian–especially not so long as it is so closely tied to Nationalism.

However, there are a few Beatitude Christians (versus the 10 Commandments in the school types) who I’ve met that don’t give me the ick, who understand that Jesus would have hung with drag queens and not shunned them. I find that I can be friends with them and know that my wife and I are safe with them.

As for my ties to the military, my being a veteran gives me a bit of status here. The American Legion and the VFW are respected integral members of the community, and I am very glad they seem to have accepted me.

My honorably discharged veteran plate in the driveway and our flying the American flag allows us to put yard signs up for local Democrats, Missy Crutchfield and Gloria Johnson, without getting harassed.

We don’t have a Harris/Walz sign yet, but seeing as how the Trump flag next door has come down maybe we’ll just stick to locals for now. My wife tells me that flag has come down before and been back up again a few days later so it could just be down for the Labor Day holiday, but here’s hoping they’ve seen the light.

I found out yesterday that my son was what the media calls a double hater and that he wasn’t going to vote at all when his choices were “a race to ruin between a convicted felon and a dementia patient.” He is still disillusioned with the Democrats but he’s going to “plug his nose and vote blue” because he understands there is too much at stake.

I remember voting blue when I was young mostly to spite my dad, who became increasingly more conservative as he aged, to the point of getting newsletters from the Heritage Foundation before he died. I often wonder if he would have succumbed to the cult.

As I became older and having served in the Air Force I found myself more of a centrist and I have been a non-affiliated voter most of my adult life. I was always way too liberal for my military friends but too conservative for the rest of my friends who worked and volunteered for social justice causes. I always voted blue in national elections, but I often ignored the candidate’s affiliation when voting locally… many third-party candidates and even a Republican– twice.

Maybe someday I’ll be able to do that again, vote for the politician, not the party, but not until this stain on our country is a bad memory in the rearview mirror. Until then it’s “Vote Blue No Matter Who” because I want this fence to be an embrace of our refuge not the bulwarks of a fortress.

Books

Only one book finished this week.

Book 66 – “The Invincible Miss Cust” by Penny Haw

This is our local book club book and I loved it! I’m a big fan of historical fiction based on the lives of real women who were extraordinary and this one was about the first female veterinary surgeon in Ireland and England.

Have a great week my friends!