The world did not end!

The health care reform legislation passed the US House, and the world as we know it did not end.  In fact the stock market was up.  What does that say?  Guess that the legislation must be good for someone. 

I really don’t like most of the bill, and I am frustrated that it has been watered down, especially as to the abortion issue.  I guess that is what happens when we Dems elect pro-life Democrats because “we are not one issue voters”.  So, now if you plan to have an abortion (!) sometime in your future, you will have to pay an additional premium.  As one of my relatives stated, “Can I opt out of the coverage for my heart?  I don’t plan to have any heart problems.”  We are such a ridiculously puritanic society.   I am not as blithely optimistic that this is a start and that further reforms will be more easily added in the future.  Are you kidding?  When was the last time our congress was able to make any true reform to any social entitlement program except to cut it?

I have stopped listening to all of it. 

Today, I painted a bedroom.  I wanted it to be an orange sherbet color.  I ended up with the orange red color crayon that no kid ever uses unless it is the last one in the box.  So, this will be the primer and back to Home Depot I will go.  I am so decorating challenged that this is probably the fourth project that I have had to go back for a different color.  My living room has 3 different shades of a color on three of the walls, and 4 shades on the remaining wall.  Our exterior has 3 shades of brown on the trim.  Ironically, though, I love to decorate.  So, I have just been assuming that the first color choice will be wrong.  I even had my daughter help me out with this choice, and thought I’d be good.  Oh, well, I do have other skills.

My son called today to ask me to help him with the two granddaughters at the doctor.  My daughter in law is losing a battle with the stomach flu.  So, now I suppose, I will be getting that within the next week.  The girls have had fevers and congestion, but thankfully, no pneumonia.  Chest xray was clear. My son mentioned that he doesn’t know how his wife handles the two girls in that type of situation, and asked how I did it with three little ones.  It made me think-I really don’t know how we did it.  All of those years are a bit of a blur.  I was working full time, had 2 kids and was going to law school at night during one point.  Then, because it was the early 80’s and there were no jobs, I ended up at home during the day with 3 kids, and worked retail in the evenings to pay the bills.  A law degree got me a job at JC Penney.  I can feel for the graduates now.  We just did it, going from day to day.  We couldn’t really think too far ahead.  We were just happy to be able to juggle the money to pay most of the bills most of the time, and when we couldn’t, we borrowed from my in-laws.  They were wonderful about it.  But it sure wasn’t how I’d pictured my life.

Now that I am this age, I just shake my head and wonder how I did do it.  There was no alternative.  Our kids never seem to have suffered from it. They don’t remember realizing we were struggling.  They have good memories.  So, I guess we did okay.  They have turned out to be wonderful as adults, as well. 

The world goes on, it doesn’t end, even when something historic happens, something as simple as paying the bills or finding a fun, free family activity.  

Or, when there has been a new law passed that has taken decades.

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