Starting out the year in the weeds, and now Fleabane, made me think of someone being a flea, acting a bane? Guess who? Because I imagined times in our past when names couldn’t be spoken. Code and covert came to be.

Setting up the AV studio in our living room for the 2nd time. Adding a new activity of daily living. Highlighting mom’s monthly wildflower was supposed to be easy, breezy time together - and then we talked about the “state of affairs”. Again, not saying the thing. Why not? What’s that all about?

I was, am, embarrassingly hesitant. To the extent that I talked to both my parents about sharing our first video. It doesn’t feel like being nervous from just being new, or camera shy, or wanting mom to enjoy a new activity at 85.

It’s because I’m not supposed to feel this way. The whole reason we’re doing this system in the United States is because we’ve got to keep trying to do better, because we keep succeeding at it, continues to inspire us, and sometimes we the people gotta we the people.

No weeds. No fleas. No bane.

This is proof that our freedom of speech isn’t in jeopardy. And if, worst case scenario it really is, we gotta speak-up. We gotta use all that ridiculous team building. Human resource navigating. Interpersonal communicating. Conflict resolving. There’s a bunch of us that have so much training in the field of personal development that we just see the next step in the handbook.

I’m not even that good at it. I’d rather not compliment sandwich, and I love most sandwich.

If there’s a connection between wanting to do something new with mom that celebrates caregiving together 10 years pursuing happiness, and the 250 years into an experiment in society that declares independence and the inalienable rights including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, this is it.

We’ve spoken openly, honestly, with integrity, and visible joy. That’s, in the world of caregiving, enough.

Turns out to be more.

Turns out to be pretty good for us.

Like Fleabane in the yard.