I'm testing out picture posting on Blogger. This is Sophie, my friend's new baby girl. 

Debating is Healthy.

I've enjoyed the healthy debate between my father & I over the last few days. It's given me time to think about things in general and in politics. I always learn something. It has led to some conclusions in my mind and sorting out other feelings in another part of mind. All those are good things.

I did get to thinking about divorce, and I wanted to post something about that.

Things are tough when parents separate. When you are young, you don't understand the reasons and what is really going on. In the last few years, my mother has answered many of those questions that inevitably start to pop up as you analyze those previous times in your life. There are no easy answers, and she is the first to say that there was no finger pointing, they were both at fault. As I've gotten to know both of my parents in a different way over the years, I've come to see them in a different light. I see their backgrounds, their personalities, and how they did the best they could with the tools they had. No one ever said being a parent was easy-and I'm the first to admit that I was not an easy kid to raise.

I appreciate my father's honesty of the situation and his response. It's no secret that we don't see eye to eye on many things. But, I also know that my dad gave me a love of music and books, writing, and sports, and those are all things that are part of my personality, and I thank him for that. Those were all important tools in growing up as well. I don't know what I gave to him, maybe I wasn't able to give anything, but for as many times as I've been angry with both my parents, I have never wished that they were someone else. I'm glad my parents are who they are and I'm thankful for what they did give me.

Moving along...

Briefly, I couldn't handle watching the VP debate for longer then 15 minutes last night. I watched the Twins game instead.

My car went kapoot yesterday. It's leaking anti-freeze, so we had to leave it at Midas while Mike took his parents van to work (they just got back from Hawaii and were staying at our house overnight) while I took his car. Things got worse from there! The guy from Midas called to say that the battery was dead in the car when they tried to start it. My brakes needed to be done, and I needed an oil change. Thankfully, some of it is under warranty, which knocks the price from $1600 down to around $500. The car has not had any major problems in the 2 1/2 years I've owned it, so I feel lucky.

I came to work at 6:45am this morning, since I had to drop Mike off at work in order to use his car. Mine should be finished shortly and I should have a nice, fixed car. Fingers crossed!

Pat sent pictures of Alissa from Homecoming. She looked amazing! So hard to believe she will be 16 in February. Cute dress, awesome shoes, and a hottie senior boyfriend! Plus, her Gwen Stefani 40's style hair was great. The little girl that said, "I'm hottttt", has grown up!

Tomorrow is our anniversary. Wow. I sure wish I could do our wedding over again. It was such a blast. We aren't sure what we'll be doing to celebrate-probably nothing more then going out to dinner on Friday night or something. We've gone on two weekend trips the first two years of our anniversary, but last year and this year we've had to forsake that due to money. We hope to go back to the Bahamas this Spring.

GO TWINS!

We know where I DIDN'T get my political views from...

Thanks Dad, for giving me more fodder for my blog. It's people like you (and I hate to use that phrase, but it's the truth) that people like me are trying to get to understand that voting DOES matter. It DOES affect you. I know, I know, you've said time and again that you are an old, cynical newspaper writer, but you've been this way for as long as I can remember. Case in point:

My interest in politics began young. Thanks to my Uncle Charlie, he gave me an amazing foundation to learn about them and what it means to take an active interest. My parents didn't give a crap (rather Dad didn't) and so when they dumped me off at my aunt and uncle's every Friday night while they went out with their friends, I got a front seat to learning about democracy. Charlie is also black, which gave me another point of view to see the world and politics from. And so, in 1984, Walter Mondale is running against Ronald Reagan. I was so excited as I learned how things worked for an election. On election night, I created my own 'poll' so to speak by giving out ballots to my Mom, Dad, Brother and one for myself. I had everyone vote and put it in my little poll envelope which was taped up on the wall in the living room. If memory serves me, my brother didn't want to participate, Mom voted for Mondale, I voted for Mondale, and Dad wrote on his ballot "don't care". Isn't it nice to see the encouragement from my family?!?

I guess I'm thankful that one of the main male influences in my life was Charlie. And luckily, he was there during the formative years of my youth. Dad wasn't around as much because of his divorce from my mother, so I spent even more time with Pam and Charlie.

To this day, I still learn about politics from Charlie. In fact, when Wellstone died and everything went to crap in Minnesota, I spent three hours at his place learning how to deal with it. We rehashed it out, discussed the outcome, what could/should have been done, everything. In the end, I came away feeling much better and learning again what a great thing we have in this country, even when it doesn't go the way you want it to go.

Dad, you are now 63. You say you are apolitical and this stuff doesn't affect you. What happens when you decide to retire? Will you have a prescription drug plan in place that will not cost you an arm and a leg? Will you have enough money saved, like Grandpa managed to do, to care for you and Debbie? Even then, as we have seen with Grandpa, it still costs a ton of money to pay those bills, even when you are healthy. These are the issues we all have to care about because they will directly affect us in some way. Social Security is there now, but it won't be there forever. Companies like Enron have taken their employees 401k plans and flushed them down the toilet. We have to elect someone who can at least get us on the road to figuring out what can be done.

I know what you'll say-I'm young, I'm still idealistic. Your damn right I am. And I hope I stay that way because at least that still gives me hope for this country. When people stop voting and stop caring, we're screwed. No wonder things are going the way they are right now. And I think that you have it the other way around when you mentioned that Kerry is a 'puppet'. Who the hell do you think is running our country right now? Not Bush. CHENEY. Bush is his puppet.

If you vote for Bush, fine. I'll just be happy you voted at this point. And I'm not one of those lunatics that hate everyone that doesn't vote the way I vote. I respect your opinion. This is just mine.

End of Rant. And Dad, thanks for the writing skills, and I still do love you!