7 Days of Grieving - 4

November 9, Saturday

Today was easier because I didn’t see a lot of people. In the morning, I went to a great museum in a neighboring town. It’s a manor that was a part of the Underground Railroad that helped runaway southern slaves to get to Canada through Lake Erie. I’ll write a separate story about the place later, it is truly fascinating. The folks who run it are wonderful and dedicated to preserving the manor in its original beauty.

I gave them a frame I made with the county Underground Railroad map they give out to their visitors. I’d created a QR code for the museum’s website and put it into the frame. So now they won’t have to print copies of the map as visitors can find it directly on their website. I forgot to take the picture but hopefully next time I visit it will be on the wall and I’ll take a photo then.

I never knew that across from that museum was a pretty large thrift store. It was open so I popped in. I love thrifting in small towns because I can always find something unique here.

This store was very different, though. It felt like a hoarder’s home: cluttered to capacity with all sorts of old and modern things, which haven’t been properly sorted out or displayed using any logic. Like there were some things in their original postal boxes from the 1960s, sitting in small towers on the floor. Books were mixed with old newspapers and stationary and you’d find old vinyl disks next to pillows and women’s clothes. Or a case of DVDs mixed in with kitchen utensils.

It had so many knickknacks like various figurines, ceramic and crystal bells, vases of all shapes and sizes, that you couldn’t put your eyes on anything in particular. I should have taken a picture of the place but it just didn’t feel right, kinda like snooping. And the smell of old things in that store was so pugnant I had to consciously make an effort to adjust to it.

I did find a beautiful silk scarf in there and had to find something else to buy because it was only $1. I found a set of vintage oil paints I’ll give to a young artist I know and a couple of old movies on DVDs. One of them is Lawrence of Arabia which I’ve never seen in its entirety, just clips here and there. The other one is a Humphrey Bogart movie.

I came home, had some mushroom soup for lunch (the disadvantage of cooking for one is that you’ll be eating leftovers for several days) and wrote a distraction micro story about power and attractiveness.

As I am still processing the Trump’s win, I was trying to think back to my other life experiences that could be comparable to what is in store for us.

I vividly remember 2016, of course, but then we didn’t know how bad it could be. Besides, the American governance institutions cracked but held. This time he is going to take a demolition ball to all of them on Day 1, and there will be no one in his administration to stop him. RFK Jr. already said that he’d abolish FDA (say goodbye to safe food, drinks and pharmaceuticals) and CDCs (say goodbye to cutting-edge research on and prevention of infectious diseases), as well as ban vaccination in public schools.

Elon Musk promised to cut $2 trillion from the government spending. So he’ll close entire federal agencies (who needs education, infrastructure, IRS and foreign policy?), throwing hundreds of thousands of people out of their jobs (the US government is the second largest employer in the country, after corporations and private businesses) and then abolish ACA aka Obamacare, leaving about 30 million of people without health insurance. Even with all of that, he will not be able to trim $2Tr, so they will go after the elderly’s Social Security and Medicare.

Meanwhile, Trump will impose tariffs on foreign goods, shifting their burden on the consumers and thus creating unprecedented inflation, while giving his billionaire buddies new tax cuts. What a wonderful world we’ll be living in! Hopefully, Musk will be able to at least convince Trump to stay in the international climate agreements. Otherwise the entire world will be screwed.

So, when it comes to my other comparable experiences, I was thinking perhaps the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. I’ll write a story about it one day. But even then, it was tough and miserable but at least we had hope that a better system would be built for the people. Here, there’s no hope. Trump is driven by greed and fear of getting to prison. His revenge agenda will be of scale no one can imagine.

Anyway, I only went out for my walk today and grocery shopping for a week. Minimal human contact and I loved it.

This is what I had for dinner: steamed salmon with brown and dirty rice and broccoli and a fresh salad of spinach, cucumbers and grape tomatoes with roasted sunflower seeds and fresh pomegranate seeds.

As planned, I started a knitting project while watching the new season of Lincoln Lawyer on Netflix. It’s a solid show I’ve been watching for several years and it doesn’t disappoint.

Tomorrow will be another day. Step by step, I’ll get to the acceptance and fighting stage. Good night, everyone.