so much negativity...i feel like telling a STORY...

[bevoette]

i've not posted much over here, so quick summary: i'm a 30-something white female married to a 50-something black male in the bluest city (no doubt) in the reddest state (for now, but 2010 is up for grabs)...lucky where we live, doing okay right now (holds breath and prays...which we both believe in strongly)

*breath*

ok :)

i do my best and am blessed and thankful to live where i live...things have changed (and are changing) in the past 5 years...but this story is not about my East-Texas redneck family, that loves - no doubt - me and my husband despite all their prejudices.

no, this story is about my midwestern, minorioty Mother-in-Law and the rest of my husband's family.

we just visited for a week after not having been up there for 4 years.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS:

- i was expecting worse. not much different. it's the midwest, the rust belt...i thought it would be despondent. but...although we spent most time w/ family, most people didn't seem to feel SO bad. more...cautious. and they'd "heard things" without so much feeling them. generally, everybody was cheery :)

- though i faithfully wore my burnt orange, my Longhorn insignia, pretty much everywhere...no OSU fans wanted to talk smack. hey! people do what they can for amusement, right ;)

- while we were visiting, there was barely a 10 degree temperature differential b/t here and there...once we landed? it's now like 40 degrees warmer here. pfffft. snow is fun ;0


anyhoozle...back to my Mother-in-Law...whatever emotions i may have felt, or my husband may have felt, or whatever...

my MIL was so frickin happy. we talked at length about it.

she talked about how she'd not paid much attention to the news for the past couple of years,but how she couldn't turn it off the past six months.

she knew ALL of the MSNBC folks' names: Tweety (she thinks he's so 'sincere' but too emotional), KO (she loves, but he can be 'mean'), Rachel (she was "shocked" to learn she was gay, LOL...)

lots of random topics, random stories, that came out during the primaries and since...the topic would come up, and my husband would defer to me "oh..she knows about that, she followed that so closely..." and then my MIL would say "me too!" and we'd go off on some discussion about it. okay, that sounds mundane...but remember, i'm not even 40 yet...and she's 80+!

it was just so wonderful and amazing.

sooo..for Christmas, my husband got her a ball cap, just a friggin BASEBALL CAP, that says "OBAMA - the 44th President of the USA" and his signature and such...and it's just so wonderful because she went NUTS over it, she loves it...

i come back here...and it's all negativity and hurt feelings and...whatever, i understand. i wish this world were different for everybody that felt hurt. but this time of year, the current atmosphere...it just felt f*cking SO GOOD to share the past few days with pure joy. :D i loved it. we giggled and my MIL hugged me and it was just perfection for a few moments.

that's all. i hope you all have the opportunity to do the same.

[Hannah Bell]

1. sweet.

[JDPriestly]

2. Thanks for the great story.

[John Q. Citizen]

3. My town's college football team (The Montana Grizzleys) just lost the national championship on TV

And you wonder why we are depressed?

Pleeease.

[Suich]

4. Thank you for sharing, bevoette!

Glad to hear you had such a terrific time!

[TexasProgresive]

5. I'm here to hug your neck

and give you some sugar, hon.

Thanks for the great story about your dear Mother-in-law. You may be in the bluest city of the reddest state but I'm in red aggieland. Thankfully we were able to keep Chet - I guess being an Aggie isn't all bad - they'll vote for their own even if it means voting blue.

And one other thing- post more often here. and have you ever visited Kiss My Big Blue Butt, Susan DuQuesnay Bankston's site from RRRRReeedddd
Fort Bend county. She's a lot of fun.

http://www.kissmybigbluebutt.com/

[kstewart33]

6. Thanks for the very positive post.

I'm excited too. Big change is coming, but it's going to take awhile, and it'll take alot of smarts which I'm confident Obama has.

[MadMaddie]

7. bevoette thanks for sharing with us!

I wish my Grandmother who died last Oct 23 could have seen Obama get elected! It makes me sad that she didn't.

I have asked my parents did they ever think they would see the day that a black man would be elected President and both of them teary eyed said no. My Dad and his 5 siblings picked cotten in Charleston when they were kids. My mom picked cotten when she lived in Kansas as a child. I am glad my parents got to see this during their lifetime.

K & R!!