The Shots Heard 'Round the World

 The most beautiful picture I've taken lately is that of my husband receiving his first CoVid shot.

He was dressed in his work clothes, ready to work at Habitat for Humanity as soon as the timer said he could leave. I was there alongside him, getting my shot, too, waiting my fifteen minutes of medical observation for the just in case...which didn't happen.

The whole process was a joy, from the minute the scheduler called to set a shot appointment until that timer dinged a few days later and I was on the way out the clinic door. There were smiling greeters in the lobby of the medical center, taking our temperatures and directing us to happy clerks checking us in on the computer. We stood in line for the briefest of time, waiting until the person ahead of us was sent the next available station. We answered questions about our current health and bared our arms.

While the serum was entering my body I prayed. Mine was not only a prayer of thanksgiving for the shot itself, but for those who created it and those who administered it, painlessly I might add. I thought about those four hundred thousand fellow Americans who didn't live long enough for the privilege of sitting in my spot. I thought about the teachers and other essential workers who so desperately needed the shot and yet had to wait their turns.

My cup runneth over. My happiness abounded.

Best of all, no money exchanged hands. No insurance cards required. I have the immunization card in hand, with the appointment for the second dose penned on the back by yet another worker at the clinic.

The light at the end of the tunnel is not as dim as it was a week ago.

Catch of the day,

Gretchen

A Republic, if you can keep it

 I have been busy during this stay-at-home pandemic. One project I helped with in 2020 was a memoir for North Carolina Senator Donald Kincaid. He was a Republican in the state senate when being a Republican in the General Assembly was nearly unheard of. For one term, he was the ONLY Republican. 

He wrote in longhand and I'd drop by his office, fully masked, and pick up the latest chapter, take it to my computer, and enter it. Our discussions led me further into the political side of life than I ever imagined I would venture. I felt like I had a front row seat to thirty years of state government unfolding before my eyes. He instructed me in the nuances of political maneuvering. He explained technicalities that I didn't even know existed.

His final chapter was a reflection of all the years he wrote about in the earlier chapters, what they meant to the state of North Carolina, and why he made the decisions he did. One statement he wanted to be sure to include was made by Benjamin Franklin about the country when it was being established. When asked by a lady if it were a republic or a monarchy, Franklin replied, "It's a Republic, if you can keep it."

One thing I've noticed about being an author and being the person who enables other authors is that no matter what the topic, there remains a connection forever. 

As in the above quote.

I had never heard it before I worked on this project, and after I finished, it went out of my head to make room for more current projects I was stuffing in...until this week at the impeachment proceedings. 

When I heard it quoted, not once but several times, I had to pay attention. I texted the senator that I had heard the quote. He texted back, as dismayed as me, "These r perilous times."

Dismayed is not the only word that describes my emotions just now, but I'll pass over those in order to talk about the concept brought forth by "A Republic, if you can keep it." In my opinion, failure to keep it is not an option. 

There was more to the quote, according to historians who can't find a source to the original documented quote, by the way. Franklin goes on to say, "The executive will be always increasing here, as elsewhere, till it ends in a monarchy." At those words, the woman then asks, "And why not keep it?"

Franklin supposedly responded, "Because the people, on tasting the dish, are always disposed to eat more of it than does them good."

Wow. Just wow. How profoundly serious.

Yet the quote became a drinking game. Hear the quote, take a swig. I gather different people react to perilous times in different ways. It even has a couple hashtags on twitter: #ARepublicifyoucankeepit and #itsarepublic. 

Wow, just wow. On a different level.

I pray that by the time I review this blog a year from now, we have kept the Republic strong. Time will tell. If the alternative happens, I might not be able to review this blog a year from now, or even write a new one. Censorship is a tool of oppression.

That's why we need to keep this Republic.

Rant over,

Catch of the day,

Gretchen

Musings on Words

 An article about Pompeii  in the local newspaper drew my attention to a new-to-me word, thermopolium. Seems that, according to this article, the ancients living in Pompeii frequented fast food establishments that served heated (thermo) meals. Who would have thunk! But proof is in the ruins. 

There is nothing new under this sun, only repurposing. So it's true with fast food joints to pick up a heated meal. It's also true with word usage.

Take the Oxford Dictionary's 2020 word of the year, which turns out not to be a single word as has been tradition (strange years call for strange selections), but variations of the same concept. In America it's "shelter-in-place." In the UK, "lockdown." In Malaysia, "ECQ" for Enhanced Community Quarantine. After all, the purpose of words is communication with understanding, and believe me, these words communicate loud and clear.

None of the above words standing alone are newly created, but combined in response to this past year's event, WOW. Rich language! 

I borrowed this sampling of 2020 word usage from the New York Times article, "The Twenty Phrases that Defined 2020." Toss one of those phrases into the conversation and people know precisely what you mean. Browse the internet and these words appear over and over and over. 

I did read somewhere that the most frequently searched word for 2020 was "pandemic." No surprise there. One year makes a world of difference, even in the science of words.

One that isn't in that meme is a newly created word that hit the internet sphere in the closing days of this horrendous year. "Vaxxie" Combine the word vaccine with the newer word, selfie, and bingo. Vaxxie, defined as a self portrait of that moment in time the CoVid anti-virus vaccine is administered. 

I've seen Vaxxies on the news. I've seen friends post their Vaxxies in the form of holding up the vaccination record card. I'm not on the North Carolina priority list, so I'll shelter-in-place until my number comes up, but I rejoice with those who share their relief at this giant step for mankind filtering down to them. 

My day will come. In the meanwhile, I'll keep looking out for those wonderful new words that will add to my everyday language. What else is there to do for fun?

Catch of the day,

Gretchen

Which one won?

 Of all the gifs and memes I've seen for this new year, the one that gave me most pause was what I call the "Which one won?" meme, referring to 2020 and 2021. In spelling this new year out, 2021, would that be twenty-twenty-one or is it an alternate spelling twenty-twenty won (I love a good play on words). It's all perspective.

This picture of my husband, Van, and me is my 2020 in a nutshell. Masked, but forging on. When the North Carolina governor first proposed the stay-at-home orders back in March, we did exactly that, sort of. We walked our streets and eventually branched out to walk various nearby pathways. We hiked mountains. We went on picnics, just the two of us. We walked nine holes of golf each week. We went to the beach twice and on a golf retreat twice, all the while safely following standards set by health authorities.

The depressing side of 2020 did not win, no it didn't. We defeated it. The world has not defeated the covid enemy, but in our home, we held our own against it.

And now 2021 is ahead of us. I learned lessons from this past year that I will take with me into this new year. First, never take anything for granted. I will appreciate each and every day. I will approach the morning with joy that I survived and say a prayer of thanksgiving at the end of the day. I am more determined than ever to accomplish goals I set in the glory days when covid wasn't an issue. I will set new goals that are more challenging. I know not what tomorrow brings, but I know my God is with me no matter what.

So when 2022 comes along, will I spell it as twenty-twenty-two or will it be a repeat year spelled as twenty-twenty, too? Not that again!!! 

Time will tell. I pray that we are all alive and healthy to get the privilege to ring it in and spell it out.

Catch of the day,

Gretchen