Time for a Break

The convention is over, Obama's incredible speech finished out a convention of memorable speeches; nearly 40 million people watched that speech on TV, not to mention a packed Mile High Stadium. I'm just about burned out, at least temporarily, and would like very much to think about other things this long holiday weekend as we head into fall. I surely don't want to write or even think about McCain or his new running mate other than to say that I most certainly am not impressed!

The days are getting shorter and while our temperature here is not that much different than it’s been all summer; there is that unmistakable feeling in the air. School will be starting soon and I'll be returning to the Jump Start Program for pre-school children where I volunteer one of day a week. The school is close to our house and I do enjoy it. I'm kind of the "reading granny" and the kids love it! It's a comfort moment in a lot of ways for both me and the kids. In so many families these days both parents have full time jobs and there isn’t always a lot of time or energy by the end of the day to spend much time reading to their children. And kids miss that. I remember how mine loved being read to as they snuggled down in their beds for the night. Their Dad would read to the boys one night and I’d read to the girls and then the next night we would switch. It was a time we all looked forward to and enjoyed. So it’s fun being able to do that for these little guys that are too young to go into kindergarten, but are indeed, getting a “jump start”.

I’m ready to focus on and think about things other than politics for a while – they’ve gotten to be just a bit nerve wracking and I recognize I’m the one that lets that happen. But it’s hard not to when you feel so passionately about the road that this country takes for the next four, eight years. So, I’m turning the TV off for the long weekend, I’m going to start putting a reading list together for the coming months, I’m going to cook some of my son’s favorites and we have a party scheduled for Monday with several of our neighbors and those are always fun. We do a lot of things with them; camping trips in the summer, cook outs and in the fall we get together to watch football games – everyone here are big Seahawk fans.

I’m certain that as November draws closer, I’ll end up back in front of the TV, biting my nails, mumbling under my breath as I watch the debates and the final push. But for now I’m just going to enjoy some down time, some good music, some good books and writing about the fun things in my life instead of politics. Now all I have to do is figure out just how to do all that without cheating!