This has been a hard day for me. I struggled to find sleep last night and doubt that I got more than three hours total with most of that coming after 6:00 this morning.
I got an email last night from one of my contacts at the Detention Center requesting donations of stuffed animals. They are seeing lots of Detainees that are being deported directly from their site. Most of the Detainees get one last visit with family who come to bring them a few of their belongings. Many of the families that come have small children and the staff would like to offer the Detainees a chance to pick out a stuffed animal to gift their children that they have to leave behind.
I went to our gift registry on Amazon and added a bunch of stuffed animals to our list and made a post on Facebook about the request. Less than 24 hours later 103 stuffed animals are on their way to the Detention Center. I’m sure more will be ordered soon.
If anyone wants to see what is on the gift registry, here is the link:
I attempted to go to bed after taking care of all of that but I got triggered with the thought of children having to say goodbye to their parent and not knowing if and when they will see them again. What the hell are we doing in this country right now? I had to sit with my anger and let it be heard and felt during the night and it carried over to today. I am finally able to self regulate myself and come back to neutral.
Staying in anger does no one any good – especially myself. I had to get myself to accept what is actually happening in this country and put my energy into acts of love. The anger will not serve me or anyone else. There is nothing I can do about the policies that are being carried out. I can help give a detainee a stuffed animal to give to his child that he may not see again for a long time, if ever. Damn, it doesn’t feel like that is enough but it is damn sure better than staying in anger and doing nothing.
The lady that is building my Food Pantry blessing box texted me. She has a cabinet that was built to hold canned goods in her garage and wondered if that would work. I don’t think it is built to be outdoors 24/7 and I was afraid it would fall over. Her next idea was using a water barrel of some sort. She said it would look like a giant cupcake. Not sure I like that idea as I don’t think people would know what it was. We had discussed a bookshelf type of things with a back and a door and roof of sorts. Not sure how she came up with these other ideas. Hoping she can get back on track and get something close to what I want made.
The city lady called me today and let me know I do not need a permit as long as it is on my property and not between the street and the sidewalk. I appreciated her calling me back although it was three days after I contacted her the first time.
Kathy and I manhandled the dogs and took them to the Vet today. They both needed a blood draw to check for heart worms and they each got three shots. Both did well. They had a bit of trouble getting blood from Roxy – knowing her she stopped her blood for a bit so they couldn’t get it. We had to laugh at Sophia, she was raising her eyebrows one and then the other at us. I had never seen her do that before. She needs to get her brows done – they are looking like bushes.
Jason won a half of a hog in some raffle he had bought a ticket for. He was running around passing it out and brought some out to put in my freezer that I will take to Nicole next week when we leave for our trip. I don’t cook with pork much – not sure why. We ate a lot of it when I was a kid but just never think to cook with it now. Unfortunately Jason didn’t get a ham or any bacon which are my favorite cuts of pork.
Forty six years ago Craig and I were married. It is a bittersweet day for me. We had some wonderful times together until we didn’t. I am grateful we ended up being good friends at the end of his life. I cherish the good times we had together. We always joked that we wondered who treated who and who tricked who.
I went to the Dollar General store this afternoon to get some more candy. I always think I will run out. The clerk was telling me what a good job Trump is doing to get Congress open again. I clamped my mouth shut and didn’t say anything. You can’t argue with stupid! I left and in my anger, left my phone behind. I went back up to the store and asked about it but he didn’t have it. I came home and looked again and couldn’t find it. Kathy called it and we couldn’t hear it. Then I remembered the cart has a black thing on the seat of the basket and I probably left it there. I went back up and the clerk had it. Someone had heard the phone ring and turned it in.
While I was there I saw the Lieutenant that suggested we do the stuffed animal project for the detainees. I was able to tell her she had over 100 stuffed animals on the way and I was betting more to come. She almost cried when I told her. That made forgetting my phone worth it!
I have the candy all open and in a bucket ready to pass out. I probably should just go downtown and do trunk or treat but you are to decorate your car trunk and that sounded like too much work. We shall see how many kiddos show up.
Kathy didn’t have a good day today either. Something must be in the energy of the day that is pulling both of us off center. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day.
No plans for the weekend. I do hope I can paint but I think it is going to be too cold tomorrow. It is to warm up next week so hoping I can get it done before I leave a week from tomorrow. There is always next spring if not!
I was overdue for a dip into the muck pond to allow me to feel some strong feelings. I spent some time this morning in tears to help release them. I’ve taken some shots this last week over the Detainee project from people that think treating Detainees with love and compassion is an unwise use of my time and energy. I don’t allow their opinion of me to influence my actions but they can sting if I don’t keep myself above neutral.
I’m grateful I am going out of this country for two weeks on November 8. I need a break from all the energy in this country right now. It takes all my energy to fiend off the negative energy that is so strong right now. I think I am worn out.
Grateful for the generous supporters that immediately stepped up and ordered stuffed animals for the detainees to give to their left behind children, grateful I found my phone, and grateful I was able to climb out of the muck pond.