A Sense Of Calm

It was just after Liz left on Saturday, after dropping off the new sheep, that Jon came out of the house and told me Biden had won the election.

I immediately felt lighter.  As if possibility had opened up inside of me in a space that darkness had occupied for the past four years.

It was just before noon and Jon, who rarely drinks, suggested we celebrate.   “I could use a Scotch” he said.

We sat on the back porch in the unseasonable warmth, squinting at the bright sun sipping scotch for Jon and Sherry for me. We touched our glasses together, but I don’t think we said any words.  We didn’t have to.

The news of Biden winning, the new lambs and warm weather all came together like the promise of better times.  Even though we are still a country divided and the pandemic rages across the country and the sun felt too hot to be healthy, I had a sense of calm that I savored.

What I think I learned most from the past four years is that I need to stay awake and engaged no matter who is president or has who has control of the Senate. I know I’m not going to like everything Biden does or tries to do as President. And I no longer think I should.

A few weeks ago Jon bought me a pair of earrings that replicates one of  Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s Descent Collars.  I’ve been wearing one every day.

It’s a reminder to me of the patience that is necessary to get things done in government, especially those things that are most personal and people feel most passionate about. It’s a reminder never to give up and not expect everything to happen even in my lifetime.  But to keep at what I believe in, no matter what.

I usually have a hard time remembering dates or even just the year of personal events in my life.  But if they happen at the same time as an important cultural or political event I have a context for them and do remember.  I’ll never forget how I sent off my Separation Papers when Obama was being inaugurated in 2009.

Without my blog to refer back to, I would have no idea how old all my sheep are, when I first got them or when we lambed. But I  know I won’t forget when my new sheep Lori, Merricat and Constance came to us.

I hadn’t expected the lambs to be so small, so young.  And what better symbol of a new and gentler beginning than a lamb.