What a Week we’ve Experienced… We watched as Americans came out of their homes and onto the streets in Huge numbers to peacefully protest police brutality against African-Americans, calling for changes within the police system.  For a bit there, all we saw  was fire and looting and elected officials called in the National Guard and imposed mandatory curfews.  Hundreds of Thousands of people continued to protest, peacefully, literally Everywhere across our country, Every Day.  Amazing!  Frightening!  Inspiring!

I haven’t been to our town’s protests, but I’m so impressed by how many have turned out.  I’m still leery of Covid — remember that? — so I’ll leave it to the young -uns for now, but I’ll find a way to support this Cause.  We can’t just leave it up to politicians.  It should not be the burden of only the black and brown people.  If we want to see systemic change across the board, then we woke middle-class white people must use whatever we have to continue to Speak Up.

We’re all suffering from Crisis Exhaustion, but Be Strong…

To celebrate the 17th Anniversary of the day we moved into our current abode, I’ve worked up a few posts dealing with the history of the families who lived here, starting in 1846.  It is also the 16th Anniversary of the Blog known as Sonnystone Acres, so I will share some “Best of” posts.  16 years of Blogging?!? Crazy, huh?  Time to celebrate..

Grandie #1 graduates from 8th grade this week — where has the time gone?  I hope when she’s my age there is a much more Just and Safe America.

Peace

Dear Friends, fellow humans, let our deep pain at the horrible state of our country be expressed as Love — not the romantic, feely-feely love of hallmark cards, but the Agressive, Active Love that can overcome this civil war.  As our cities erupt with fire and anger, let our Love envelope those hurting and those hurt.  Can we look around and see a Way to help those who have been oppressed for 400 years?  Sometimes it’s our very helplessness that can move us to cry out that this racism must end.  I said it, racism, and it’s built in to our culture, wired into our brains, and many white people deny it because it is tribal.

I am a “woke white woman”.  What does that mean?  That means I realized, with horror, that I am a bigot.  The revelation came to me over Ferguson, the sight of Michael Brown lying in the street, dead, while the white police officers figured out their story to justify his murder.  Prior to that I used the usual racist-white-person excuse that I had personally always strived to treat people the same–and I did.  As a nurse, I looked at the illness, the wound, the problem and used the same tactics to heal no matter a person’s color  That much is true.

What I didn’t realize is that I would never be treated the way a black person is.  I understood that I had “gotten away with” stuff that black people would be jailed or killed for.  I saw the kids at the “good” school where I worked treated in two different ways with black kids always suspected and black parents always undermined.  I was sick with grief and guilt.

No amount of whitesplaining made it look any better.  I saw that my parents, my family members were of the bigoted mindset and that they seriously did Not See it–in fact, denied it vigorously.  I saw white people have biracial grandchildren that they loved and helped raise, so they claimed that proved they were not racist….but they still hated the father and the father’s family because their bigotry is so ingrained.  I’m no better than them, though, but I decided at that moment to be aware of my bias, my stupid feeling that this is America so everyone has the same chance–Ha!    Once you see something, you can’t un-see it.  Dr. Martin Luther King said, “An injustice anywhere is an injustice Everywhere.”

The folks rioting and burning have had the knee of the oppressor on their necks for centuries. I can’t say what I would do if I were in their shoes.  I’ll just not judge but Look, Look for a way to Agressively, Actively Love them and not make it in any way about myself.  Dr. Martin Luther King said, “A riot is the language of the unheard.”

Already I have prayed and prayed hard, sometimes with just tears because I don’t know what to say.  I left my church as I watched them coalesce around a mentally ill man who stoked their bigotry and homophobia, calling him a messiah even though he couldn’t tell you a single Bible story.  Since the pandemic I’ve been able to “attend” a lot of different church services and there are plenty of them who do not preach this and I’m relieved, even invigorated by their sermons.  In particular, I’ve virtually visited a lot of black churches; it’s a different world and one that has informed me about their plight. The scales continue to drop from my eyes and I see some ways I can help them and I will.

The truth about our country is this:  the confederacy won that war.  Though Lee surrendered, they went to Plan B and murdered the president and cabinet members running the country, replacing Lincoln with a Southerner.  We don’t teach that in our history books, the ones that are chosen in Texas; they don’t teach about the laws that were passed to keep these people from being recognized as People. As People!  My mother truly believed that black people had different skeletons and blood than white people…

We know Better.  We can Be Better.

I was out the other day to the grocery store and was astounded to see 95% of the people not wearing masks.  Taking care of each other has been labeled a Liberal thing, a Democrat thing, a Weak thing.  Taking care of each other has become a Weak Thing?  Is that what you believe?  Please.

It’s Pentecost Sunday in the christian church, marking the story of the Holy Spirit coming in like a big wind,  As the disciples preached, everyone in the audience heard the message in his own language because Love is for All of us.  It Woke them Up.  May that same Spirit of Love Wake Us Up today.

Peace.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that…

 Martin Luther King…

Here we are at day Number Million of the Coronavirus Covid-19 Pandemic and how are ya’ll faring?

Sonnystoners have never been tempted by “normal” and there’s nothing out there that I Need to Do so badly that I would risk my life.  We’ve been caught up in the Seasonal Chores — gardening, cleaning the porches, putting up the pool, mowing between rains — just going with the flow.

The Big Thing that changed for us with the advent of the quarantine was our Plans…plans for traveling, but also plans to be with our New York Family to celebrate #1 Grandie Emma’s Graduation from Eighth Grade.  She will graduate via Virtual ceremony from Town. School on June 10th or so, and I will be present, probably with a better view than I would have if I were there physically.  Emma is just such a Great Kid and I’m not just saying that because I’m her Jojo…her Teachers and fellow Students agree.  I’m so proud that she was chosen to speak at the Town. Graduation…Check this out.

Who knows when or how school will resume in the Fall, but she will be attending Trevor School, a Learning Place that fits her, and welcomes her as a Student Ambassador.  Her wagon is hitched to a star.

Another Plan that changed was our Trip to London for Trooping the Colour and Royal Ascot.  We’d planned to go to Emma’s graduation, then hop a plane for London.  Thanks to the pandemic we did get a credit for our flights without change fees.  The hotel was also non-refundable, but I started a correspondence with The Queen’s Gate to see if they would also give me a credit.  At first they wanted me to schedule a visit before the end of the year.  Air travel and such are still so flux that I asked them to please extend my credit to accommodate a similar trip to what I’d planned.  I told them of my Royal fetish and crush on Prince Charles, moving them allow me to visit anytime before 30 June 2021.  Yay!  We’ll skip the Trooping the Colour since I don’t know When I’ll be comfortable in a crowd that size and will arrive the day after.  I made friends with the concierge and he will help us arrange tours and transport to the Royal Ascot.  Even though I’d planned this trip for that last six months, the New Trip will be Better, I just know.  All’s Well.

I went to my hairdresser on Friday and I’m blonde again.  Nails still ratty and ugly, but I’m hesitant to chance my usual salon. I might have to actually do my own for a while…. Casey let me cut his bangs…okay… ..is that the New Normal?  I can live with it.

Peace