That parking garage is haunting and nightmarish. I check often to see if they’ve found anyone. It’s a very hard day, but you’ve explored this so beautifully.
Supposedly, rescue workers haven't found anyone trapped in vehicles. I cannot imagine how terrible that would be. Huge relief must have washed over them each time they came across an empty car.
It's a harder day today than yesterday when I posted the Snippet and you commented. It's no one foot in front of the other to find our way in this new reality. Somehow we'll find some light.
We are rehearsing and performing Beethoven’s 9th Symphony this week. The irony brings me elation and tears frequently when practicing, teaching or rehearsing with my students and dear music companions. Today we are hopeful that women and their allies will turn the page on the radical chauvinism and nativism that has been unleashed in the US of late. Businesses are boarding up windows near my son’s workplace near the Statehouse in Richmond. We are hopeful. We are hopeful. The polls don’t close still for hours. I wonder how it will feel this weekend to play our customary America the Beautiful to conclude our concert. Sending love your way.
Thank you for this lovely message. You'll have to play Beethoven's 9th even more frequently now to keep some spirit of that beautiful music in people's hearts. Incredible that businesses have to protect themselves in fear of the results of the election. That violence has become expected.
I hope you'll play America the Beautiful with all your heart and soul this weekend. It will be again someday.
Thank you for your thoughtful and sincere comments.
Se exactamente que es tener ese sentimiento de impotencia de no poder hacer mucho por cualquiera de los dos temas que mencionas, pero tambien se que antes de ponernos tragicos con el futuro, solo nos queda respirar profundo y tener la mejor buena energia, aunque las noticias no sean a nuestro favor. Eso me ocurrio con mi ultima visita al oftalmologo quien en conclusion solo dijo “sino te operas usaras un perrito y un baston” lo cual fue bastante desolador. Pero con los dias tome la determinación de no tomar esto como una sentencia sino como advertencia. Mientras respirar profundo❤️❤️
Hola, mi melocotón. Gracias mil por el mensaje de actitud positiva. Si, es importante vivir y actuar con la buena energía siendo lo mejor que podamos. Un pie delante del otro ahora hasta que recupere el equilibrio. TQM
Thank you for this post - as hard as it is to read and as hard as it must have been to write. My family was lucky to just miss total devastation from Hurricane Helene a few months ago - but if they had been any closer ( a few feet, in some cases), they would not have made it. A reminder at how incredibly fragile our existence is. And yet, how incredibly resilient people are.
Wow, how fortunate your family was. Incredible to think that a few feet one way or the other could make a life changing difference. I'm glad they are safe. All this is a good reminder how we need to take advantage of and find a bright side in every moment. Hear, hear to people's incredible powers of strength and resilience. We're going to need it.
This piece is a lovely testament to the importance of living in the moment and being grateful. Sending love and healing to all those impacted by the floods.
As for the USA elections, I can only hope that the news over the next day or so bring peace and joy to our country -- not anger and violence.
Yes, I whole heartedly agree about being grateful for every moment. Thank you for reminding me of that. No matter what, there is always something for which to be grateful.
Thanks so much for your comments and thoughtfulness.
Thank you for this difficult but very powerful post Andrea. The recent flooding in both the US and Spain is unimaginable even when seeing the pictures. As far as the US election goes, I am avoiding most of the media and predictions at this point, and have a weekly virtual group mediation session at 7:00 pm tonight which arrives with perfect timing! I’m also reading a very good detective novel which is a welcome distraction….
I believe that it was Martin Luther King who said that despair is not productive, so my primary goal, regardless of the election outcome, is to not panic and not despair. To keep living the best life we can, do what we can, and know that we’ve done that. Your monetary contributions are enough right now, Andrea - please don’t despair.
Thanks, Martha, for your insightful and cheering comment. I agree that despair is not productive and it only makes one feel worse. I have to figure out next steps about what I can do to make a moment, a day, or a life a little better for someone around me. At least I have some control on my immediate environment.
I hope you have a lot of meditation dates and absorbing novels lined up for a while.
Thank you again for responding with your wise words in this distracting and important time.
Nice piece. Thank you. Reading others comments is helpful. I just learned the results of the election. I need to focus on the positive and not despair. We are in Zimbabwe, heading next week. Not ready.
Thanks for reading and commenting, Evie. Other readers' comments have boosted my spirits and consoled me. I keep telling myself not to despair and to find some light in all of this. Zimbabwe has been through some pretty rough times and under more extreme circumstances that the US. I hope you enjoy the rest of your trip and can focus on all the beauty and wildlife there to bolster you for your re-entry.
Hello my lovely longtime friend. This was a well-researched and heartfelt post. I have been away to my previous hometown of Plymouth until late last night and that was so great for distracting me from all the news. The floods in Spain have been on my mind since last week and the photos I've seen each morning heartbreaking. I still cannot fathom how people can deny that the climate is changing.
And then I woke up to the election news this morning and my heart sank again. I had not even allowed myself to think this would be possible. I am still in shock and have no plan for how to cope. Reading my friends' brilliant writing I suppose is my first step! Thank you for posting this and giving me comfort that others are in similar moods. Wishing you well and strength and good books to read. ❤️
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and for your empathy for the floods here and the elections in our home country. Unlike you, I had emotionally prepared myself for this outcome. Or I thought I had. Now that it's here, I still cannot believe it. And I don't know what to do except to put one foot in front of the other and march forward. I hope you find something to ease your heart and mind. Maybe working in the garden to grow something beautiful that will bring you joy in the spring. Or a long walk. If there was ever any sun there, I'd add lie in the sun and soak up the warmth. But I won't even go there :). Take good care of yourself and those around you.
Thank you as ever, even more than ever, for reading and commenting. I hope you had a lovely time in Plymouth.
Thank you so much for your comments and thoughts, Amy. It still amazes me there can be so much damage by natural disasters as it’s a reminder we humans cannot control everything. Including the elections! Yet, we must move ahead and come out stronger for it over the next four years. It will take me some time to recalibrate.
Thank you for that characteristically vivid and clearly written description of the heart-breaking floods in Spain, and their political repercussions.
I thought I had steeled myself against the possibility of such a U.S. election result. But I find now that I had not. My perspective on my native country will be forever changed, and not in a good way.
Yes, Tim, at this moment the elections are over and the results crystal clear. Even though we both live out of the country and have no intention of going back, the results and the tenor of the country still hit home. They helped me understand how far from most people I live geographically, philosophically, morally, and economically. That's pretty depressing.
That parking garage is haunting and nightmarish. I check often to see if they’ve found anyone. It’s a very hard day, but you’ve explored this so beautifully.
Supposedly, rescue workers haven't found anyone trapped in vehicles. I cannot imagine how terrible that would be. Huge relief must have washed over them each time they came across an empty car.
It's a harder day today than yesterday when I posted the Snippet and you commented. It's no one foot in front of the other to find our way in this new reality. Somehow we'll find some light.
Nightmarish
We are rehearsing and performing Beethoven’s 9th Symphony this week. The irony brings me elation and tears frequently when practicing, teaching or rehearsing with my students and dear music companions. Today we are hopeful that women and their allies will turn the page on the radical chauvinism and nativism that has been unleashed in the US of late. Businesses are boarding up windows near my son’s workplace near the Statehouse in Richmond. We are hopeful. We are hopeful. The polls don’t close still for hours. I wonder how it will feel this weekend to play our customary America the Beautiful to conclude our concert. Sending love your way.
Thank you for this lovely message. You'll have to play Beethoven's 9th even more frequently now to keep some spirit of that beautiful music in people's hearts. Incredible that businesses have to protect themselves in fear of the results of the election. That violence has become expected.
I hope you'll play America the Beautiful with all your heart and soul this weekend. It will be again someday.
Thank you for your thoughtful and sincere comments.
Se exactamente que es tener ese sentimiento de impotencia de no poder hacer mucho por cualquiera de los dos temas que mencionas, pero tambien se que antes de ponernos tragicos con el futuro, solo nos queda respirar profundo y tener la mejor buena energia, aunque las noticias no sean a nuestro favor. Eso me ocurrio con mi ultima visita al oftalmologo quien en conclusion solo dijo “sino te operas usaras un perrito y un baston” lo cual fue bastante desolador. Pero con los dias tome la determinación de no tomar esto como una sentencia sino como advertencia. Mientras respirar profundo❤️❤️
Hola, mi melocotón. Gracias mil por el mensaje de actitud positiva. Si, es importante vivir y actuar con la buena energía siendo lo mejor que podamos. Un pie delante del otro ahora hasta que recupere el equilibrio. TQM
Thank you for this post - as hard as it is to read and as hard as it must have been to write. My family was lucky to just miss total devastation from Hurricane Helene a few months ago - but if they had been any closer ( a few feet, in some cases), they would not have made it. A reminder at how incredibly fragile our existence is. And yet, how incredibly resilient people are.
Wow, how fortunate your family was. Incredible to think that a few feet one way or the other could make a life changing difference. I'm glad they are safe. All this is a good reminder how we need to take advantage of and find a bright side in every moment. Hear, hear to people's incredible powers of strength and resilience. We're going to need it.
This piece is a lovely testament to the importance of living in the moment and being grateful. Sending love and healing to all those impacted by the floods.
As for the USA elections, I can only hope that the news over the next day or so bring peace and joy to our country -- not anger and violence.
Yes, I whole heartedly agree about being grateful for every moment. Thank you for reminding me of that. No matter what, there is always something for which to be grateful.
Thanks so much for your comments and thoughtfulness.
Thank you for this difficult but very powerful post Andrea. The recent flooding in both the US and Spain is unimaginable even when seeing the pictures. As far as the US election goes, I am avoiding most of the media and predictions at this point, and have a weekly virtual group mediation session at 7:00 pm tonight which arrives with perfect timing! I’m also reading a very good detective novel which is a welcome distraction….
I believe that it was Martin Luther King who said that despair is not productive, so my primary goal, regardless of the election outcome, is to not panic and not despair. To keep living the best life we can, do what we can, and know that we’ve done that. Your monetary contributions are enough right now, Andrea - please don’t despair.
Thanks, Martha, for your insightful and cheering comment. I agree that despair is not productive and it only makes one feel worse. I have to figure out next steps about what I can do to make a moment, a day, or a life a little better for someone around me. At least I have some control on my immediate environment.
I hope you have a lot of meditation dates and absorbing novels lined up for a while.
Thank you again for responding with your wise words in this distracting and important time.
Nice piece. Thank you. Reading others comments is helpful. I just learned the results of the election. I need to focus on the positive and not despair. We are in Zimbabwe, heading next week. Not ready.
Thanks for reading and commenting, Evie. Other readers' comments have boosted my spirits and consoled me. I keep telling myself not to despair and to find some light in all of this. Zimbabwe has been through some pretty rough times and under more extreme circumstances that the US. I hope you enjoy the rest of your trip and can focus on all the beauty and wildlife there to bolster you for your re-entry.
Hello my lovely longtime friend. This was a well-researched and heartfelt post. I have been away to my previous hometown of Plymouth until late last night and that was so great for distracting me from all the news. The floods in Spain have been on my mind since last week and the photos I've seen each morning heartbreaking. I still cannot fathom how people can deny that the climate is changing.
And then I woke up to the election news this morning and my heart sank again. I had not even allowed myself to think this would be possible. I am still in shock and have no plan for how to cope. Reading my friends' brilliant writing I suppose is my first step! Thank you for posting this and giving me comfort that others are in similar moods. Wishing you well and strength and good books to read. ❤️
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and for your empathy for the floods here and the elections in our home country. Unlike you, I had emotionally prepared myself for this outcome. Or I thought I had. Now that it's here, I still cannot believe it. And I don't know what to do except to put one foot in front of the other and march forward. I hope you find something to ease your heart and mind. Maybe working in the garden to grow something beautiful that will bring you joy in the spring. Or a long walk. If there was ever any sun there, I'd add lie in the sun and soak up the warmth. But I won't even go there :). Take good care of yourself and those around you.
Thank you as ever, even more than ever, for reading and commenting. I hope you had a lovely time in Plymouth.
I am heartbroken over our losses with the weather caused devastation in the US and Spain.
I am crushed by the election. I do not understand.
However, like the King and Queen I will march onward.
Thank you for writing with compassion and honesty.
Thank you so much for your comments and thoughts, Amy. It still amazes me there can be so much damage by natural disasters as it’s a reminder we humans cannot control everything. Including the elections! Yet, we must move ahead and come out stronger for it over the next four years. It will take me some time to recalibrate.
Thank you for that characteristically vivid and clearly written description of the heart-breaking floods in Spain, and their political repercussions.
I thought I had steeled myself against the possibility of such a U.S. election result. But I find now that I had not. My perspective on my native country will be forever changed, and not in a good way.
Yes, Tim, at this moment the elections are over and the results crystal clear. Even though we both live out of the country and have no intention of going back, the results and the tenor of the country still hit home. They helped me understand how far from most people I live geographically, philosophically, morally, and economically. That's pretty depressing.