My next T- shirt

 

If the word is unfamiliar to you, as it was to me, allow me to spare you the effort of running to your online dictionary.

redcrudescence - The unexpected return of a particularly unpleasant experience.

I think it's safe to say many R17 readers are dealing with a major bout of recrudescence. 

Tuesday's turn of events has all of us, facepalming ourselves and thinking, "What the fuck happened to America?" Have we forgotten the chaos, the humiliation, the ignorance and the mayhem of 2016-2020. Oh and what about the Covid corpses left in the wake of a man who kept telling us, "Ignore the loss of grandpa and grandma, everything is under control. Drink another shot of Clorox bleach." 

Here's the thing, born just a generation removed from the Depression, my family has endured living under  a very dark cloud for a very long time. We wear our pessimism like a well-tailored overcoat. 

Expect the worst and be pleasantly surprised by any other outcome. That and the ability to laugh at our foibles has given us the strength to move on. 

And we will.

Yesterday, for instance, after digesting the undigestible news of Trump's victory, I took a gander at the business news and the soaring DJI and NASDAQ. 

Here's the incredible irony, the same Red Hats who bitched and moaned about the cost of a dozen eggs and a pound of bacon in 2023, the ones who don't have two nickels in the stock market, elected a bankruptcy-prone doofus.  And in doing so, put a significant bump in my stay-out-of-dirty-nursing-home-fund.

Thank you, political Neanderthals. I think.

Here's another thing. I took a few moments to take inventory of how little the choice of a US president actually has on my life. Maybe I'm looking through rose colored glasses here, but the effect is kind of minimal. 

I'm retired. I have a comfortable home. I even have a vacation home - that is still available for rent in lovely Palm Springs (dm me for details.) I have Medicare. And in two weeks the US government will start depositing Social Security checks in my bank account.

I have my fingers crossed all those plusses in my favor will remain in place.

Similarly I have two daughters who are healthy, happy and thriving in their careers. And will remain so, despite whatever mishigas this monster will wreak. 

In other words, other superficial, sanguine words, I'll be OK. And I'm trying not to let this historical turn of events and obscene evasion of justice bring me down. Below that surface however, is the concern for family and friends who have considerably more at stake. Those that have been marginalized, including women, brown skinned people, and members of the LGBTQ community.

But guess what my myopic Red Hat friends? You have those people in your family and in your circle of friends as well. And they're scared. And because of your shitty cretinous choices, they have every right to be.

Enjoy your bacon and eggs.