This kind of seems like a metaphor for how life's been going lately, but this is a sign I saw this morning on my way to work:
ROAD UNDER CONSTRUCTION. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Wonderful. The only problem is that this sign is at the end of the exit ramp from I-93. There is no option to turn around or go another way once you're at this point. Even if you decide you don't want to risk it, you have no alternative.
Also, while this road is both under construction and in incredibly bad shape.. it's been that way for at least a month. There are exposed pot holes, grooves in the road making it uneven, and there are multiple construction vehicles and cones to also drive around. Yet this sign JUST showed up this week. I've been driving on this road daily and have been given no warning up until this point. I'm not sure why the sudden change...
But it does make me think of the country lately. It would be appropriate to have some sort of alert, "Warning, approach the next four years with caution and skepticism." Except there's no way to avoid what's coming, even if we wanted to.
I am terrified of the people that are being put into power right now, but like it or not, I still have to drive my car down this road, if you will.
I'm trying really hard to focus on the positive. Tom and I took some time this weekend to focus on us, and do some things that were mindless and fun. We went to see "Almost Christmas" at the movies Saturday morning (so good and funny!), and then went to Lowes to pick up some necessities as well as half the Christmas aisle. No joke, it took us two carts to get out of that store.
Once we were home, Christmas just sort of happened. It was making us happy, and everything was right there, so we started setting things up! It's a big house, and it will probably take us a while to fully decorate it, so we might as well start now, right??
We even bought a fake tree for our office. We'll still have a real tree in our living room, but Tom grew up with a fake tree and it's part of his Christmas tradition to set one up. Plus I can totally see the appeal, since I can leave this tree up for months if I want! We also came home with a mini Hawaiian tropical tree that was all decked out for the holidays and will hopefully live in our kitchen for a while, as long as a certain kitten doesn't decide to eat it..
We rounded out the weekend with dinner with a friend, church, and some shopping. While our anger and sadness were always present, it was nice to focus on some positive as well. We're all going to need to find a balance where we can continue our lives, but still call out injustice. We can be allies for those who need us, while also taking care of ourselves.
Things that should worry you:
Trump's new Chief Strategist is Stephen K. Bannon, member of the alt-right and former head of Breitbart
Pence might be much more harmful than Trump
Violence is still happening in Trump's name