Count them... Count them all.

Sometimes, being thankful for what we have is hard, especially when we are faced with all that we have lost.  This isn’t a case of seeing the glass half full or half empty, it’s about the ache that we feel when we think about who we have lost, who will not be at our Thanksgiving table this year.

I am thankful that I have had the life that I have had.  I am thankful that as I approach 50 I have been given a second opportunity to live life the way that it should be lived.  I will forever be thankful that I have a friend in Brian who can respond to a call in under two minutes and save my life by simply being there and knowing the exact thing I needed to do at that moment.

As I go into this first Thanksgiving without backup from Jeanette, it brought me joy to know that because of her I have long ago stopped trying to be perfect in my delivery of the meal.  Stove Top is good enough, because it’s whom you are eating with not what you are eating that matters.  I haven’t had to face a holiday and all of its joys and stresses without her as a lifeline for years and for that I give thanks.

Today I am thankful that Jeanette was in my life for as long as she was, teaching me the importance of not caring if the assholes hate me.  Really why did I care what the assholes thought anyway?  I am thankful that I no longer have to carry the secrets of my life; the ones that make you feel less than enough, because she was my friend and carried them with her too.  I am thankful that even though I miss her everyday, she will never really be gone because I see her in her children, see her in her husband and hear her voice in my mind, telling me to suck it up and go make the gravy.  

Today I am thankful for my own family, in its current and real condition and scattered locations.  This will be the 15^th Thanksgiving without our mother, but her decorations and recipes will be on the table and she will be remembered and loved.  I am thankful that my Dad has happiness and love in his life, although distance makes it hard, knowing he is where he is meant to be is making me thankful.

Today I am thankful for my friends that bring me the colors of the world and make each day different and wonderful.  Each of them is different from the other and I am richer for having them allow me to be in their worlds. 

Today I am thankful for my husband and children who have shown me that everyone does not leave.  They have taught me more than I ever could have taught them about love and family.  To know that I had a hand in creating this fantastic group of people makes me the most thankful of all.

Happy Thanksgiving.  Count your blessings, they are many.

Beware the Elephant in the Room!

there are many layers to this onion... following are the ranting's of a rank and file Montgomery County Republican...

Isn’t this always the way, North versus South, Dog versus Cat, Republican versus Democrat.  It’s easy to see how conflict can unfold from such differing types.  The important thing has got to be how to have a difference of opinion and yet remain unwilling to destroy those that would think opposite of you.  Isn’t this what we have learned over the centuries of independence and freedom?

Turn your focus to our Grand Old Party, over time we seem to have found ourselves at yet another cross roads where we need to decide how we wish to define ourselves.  We brand ourselves the party of family values, fiscal restraint and conservative stewardship but then the same old conflict will arise and some of us will not be conservative enough, or agree that family values just may need to be re-examined to become more inclusive of the younger generational views.  

I have an idea, instead of having an “all in or all out” mentality, how about being more accepting of the reality that we are all different but support the general core traits that make us republican or maybe just maybe we need to be more accepting of each others goals and agendas and remember why the party system was created. I don’t think it matters what party you are with, if your presence and goals are in conflict with an others, there is an automatic reaction to line up supporters and work to discredit the other.  This is a normal activity for opposing parties, but when it continues to the environment that your political party operates in, with each other, it is headed to destruction.

I do not consider myself a political pundit, or even well read on every political issue out there, but along with being a Republican Committeewoman for ten years and working for a living, I have raised four children and I do consider myself well versed on how to get along and to work with opposing personalities.  So to my local party, before I toss in the towel and register independent, maybe these simple household rules (with some modification) could be useful in getting our party back on track.

1. The only person who is the “boss” of us is the voters we represent.  (Remember them?  The people who have the same values we represent.)

2. We don’t quit.  (my children have heard this in the form of – family is like herpes, we are forever.)  Then again, for the case of politics this might work too.

3. A team can only succeed when we all work together.  The main goal has got to be to win elections, regardless if the candidate was our first choice or not.  You cannot succeed when you take your ball and go home because you don’t like the people playing the game, be committed to success.

4. Communicate.  Have faith in the system and make sure you have the right leader in place, one that will be willing to hear all sides and open to finding a common ground.  

5. Stop finding something to be mad at.  If you want drama, join the local theater club.  Walking around, creating dissension or creating an environment that does not encourage open discourse should not be accepted by the rank and file.  In this case the squeaky wheel should never get the grease!

6. If you don’t like what's being served, find another restaurant.  In other words, take your bitterness and anger and take it outside of the party, keeping it alive and nurturing this type of emotion will only bring destruction of the party quicker.

The voters that I have spoken to want to be communicated with not talked at, and I don’t mean by a robo call.  They want to hear why they should elect a candidate.  They want to hear why one candidate is a better choice over another.  I remember a time when my committee person would send a letter to the people in their district and let them know who was running, for what position and why.  A direct and simple communication reminded us that it was time to get out and vote and back in the day we looked to our committee members to share information about the candidates. 

With the advent of Social Media, the avenues of communication change as quickly as the stories about the specific candidates.  Looking to the future is important, but maybe to get back on track we need to think a little old school at the same time.

Montgomery County Republicans, we have a leader, we elected him and we owe the party our continued support.  Lets take this time to figure out how to make sure that we stop doing the same thing over and over again, because that is surely not working and use what works and fix the rest.  Follow the rules of good government, good citizenship and for goodness sake, good manners.

I for one do not believe as Bruce Castor stated in the Intelligencer “Losing every single office… tells me Montgomery County has completely turned and the hope of recovery is slight.”  I believe that there is always an opportunity to prevail, especially when we take the time to communicate, work together and get our voters out on election day.  

Its time to look to the leadership we chose and ask them to lead.  What do you think?