Samhaintide

My word, here it is Samhain, and I have forgotten (or procrastinated, more like) to write again for three months. Shame on me.

I've had a lot going on.

I'm making new friends, learning to get along on my own again without a partner, parenting my teen son. Meanwhile, the world, or at least the United States, is in a bit of a shambles with this election coming up next week. I don't ever talk politics, but boy-howdy this one is going to be a doozy.
I was brought up that my vote is my private business, so I will not say who I am voting for. But I will say I really ought, if it wasn't so critical, this, to sit back with the popcorn and watch the fur fly.
This is one time I am SO glad I haven't had television in the last 25 or more years.
I really think we oughtta go back to the soapbox days, where the candidates say what they are going to do for the nation, and exactly how they plan to implement it, instead of the mud-slinging, which is so ugly.
Not to mention that the internet and social media has really given rise to the ugly in Americans-- I don't know what that's about except perhaps it's safer to be mean behind a screen.
Me, I refuse to do that. I will not go there.
Believe me, I have my ugly just like most folks, but I am keeping my counsel. My mom taught me if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all, and there's times I just love that Southern saying "Bless their heart" because that has all kinds of nuance to it.

Have I gotten off on a rant or what?

This Samhain, I'm thinking mostly of my dad.

When I was 11 or so, my dad used to sit me in the front seat and hand me the map and make me navigate. He was an airline pilot, and navigating and weather and all that was in his blood. I hated it, at the time... "See that highway sign? Is it an interstate or a county road? Where is that town, can you find it on the map? There's a railroad crossing, see it? On the map. How many miles to X town?"... and on and on, till I thought I would die.
Now? I can find my way out of anywhere. I can read a map like nobody's business, and I think it's a dying talent, with GPS and all. I do use the GPS, but there's nothing like an old-fashioned printed paper map.

Also, I can pack like a boss. The car, the carry-on bag, my purse, a backpack. My dad, I got that from my dad. He could really pack the car and the boat when we went camping. I have been called Mary Poppins, and that is a high compliment, to me. I hear PL Travers was rather a Witchy sort, too. I will take it!

And you know what? I realized this year that I am more interested in weather than I thought I was. I have had NOAA as my homepage for a couple of years, and I read the Farmer's Almanac, and while I have a barometer/thermometer/humidity gauge on my wall for a couple of years, too, in honor of my father, I think I may actually learn how to read that barometer.  

Thinking of you, Daddy. Thank you for teaching me those skills. Thank you for what you didn't teach, that I inherited naturally from you. Thank you for pretending I was old enough to dance with you, at the clubhouse dances. I'm honored. I danced with (for) you this morning, in your honor. I miss you.

Blessed Samhain, y'all. And Happy New Year.