Author: May Review & Memorial Day Weekend

May was a beast. She raked her claws into me, shredded my pink unicorn blouse and left me to whistle showtunes whilst I ate vegan gummy bears and hugged my stuffed velociraptor. But I survived. By hook and by crook, and a well aimed dagger or two, I survived.

One of my May highlights involved being rear ended on my way to work one morning by a driver at a red-just-turned-green light. She was in her pajamas and didn’t seem to quite understand, despite my saying so repeatedly, that I didn’t wish to speak to her. Ever. Yes it’s a fender bender, and yes it was an accident, but so was the puddle forming on my seat.

Work chewed me up and spit me out like stale Bazooka bubble gum. I watched as people dodged responsibility at meetings and groomed social niceities to get away with doing little to no work, while still collecting the perks and benefits of said work. I watched as the stack of papers called “work” stood before each person seated at the table only to be curtly dismissed. It crept my way and settled into my overflowing in-tray like wet, tired seaweed. It shuffled some memos around to use as a blanket and pillow. I’m becoming aware that many people are professionals at manipulation. The working sector calls it “project management.” I call it lying. No alternative truths here, Sherlock. 

But I’m writing. And continuing to look for God, change and the people working behind the scenes, fighting the good fight. And this weekend in America it’s Memorial Day, the start of the summer patriotic holidays. Independence Day will follow and then we’ll wrap up with Labor Day.

Thank you to the veterans, past and present, who have defended our country and helped other countries defend theirs. May the world leaders work towards peace and cooperation, a climate where soldiers can play gin rummy inbetween drill trainings and never experience PTSD, real warfare or our crummy Veteran’s Affairs system. May we realize that the person on the other side of the globe is just that, a person first and everything else second. And recognize that they have dreams, wishes and a desire for basic needs, too.

We’re not flying a flag at the Peregrine household until the current president is out of office. I’ll be interested to see how this chapter in our government ends.

Keep on writing, Arcians.