A Reunion

I had a best friend who lived across the street back in the mid-to-late 60's in Vancouver. I lost touch with her when our family moved to the other side of the country.  We were only 9 years old at the time and I remember being really sad for a long time and missing her terribly.  She was the sweetest girl and we had lots of fun together.

I wondered about her a lot over the years - how she was, where she was, what was she doing...had life been good to her?  I certainly hoped  so.

I assumed she had likely married and changed her last name so, even with the advent of the internet and Google search, it didn't occur to me to check the web.  I mean, I myself had been married and changed my last name twice...I just thought it was a lost cause.

 

Then, one day I saw her name (she had kept her last name) and grown-up face on a highway billboard (she was running for political office), and we got in touch by e-mail.  She was as thrilled as I was to reconnect.  She'd wondered about me over the years as well.  We were amazed we had both wound up living in the same city.

 

We finally got together in person over dinner last evening, and caught up on the last 44 years (88 years of life in total between the two of us!). We got a comfy booth and settled in for some serious talking.

 

She's an amazing, brilliant, accomplished person who's lived an incredible life full of achievement, contribution and international recognition.  I am quite in awe of her, and so honoured and excited that we're going to stay in touch.  We do have a lot of life experience in common, share similar views, and I feel we still have our friendship bond formed 44 years ago. 

 

I am so glad to have her back in my life, and to no longer wonder and worry about whatever happened to...

 

Todo bien.  (It's all good.)

 

Fingers Crossed Obama Wins

Here is a visual of the USA's debt problem that I photographed from the TV screen when CNN was on (financial reporter Christine Romans).

As you see in the banner title at the bottom of the screen - "Bush-era policies account for the largest chunks of American debt." This is according to the Congressional Budget Office. The Bush Wars (in Iraq and Afghanistan) are represented by the tan and red layers in that graph. The financial crisis (caused by Bush policies and cronies) is the next medium blue layer. Obama's stimulus spending (to try to counter the effects of the mainly Bush-caused financial crisis) is the lighter blue; and, finally, the black layer represents all the accumulated past deficits (Democratic and Republican) to date that combine to make up the rest of the debt. And somehow Republican Romney, is touted by the Tea Party and other neo-conservatives as the future financial and economic saviour to cure America's debt woes? Really? Obama didn't cause any of it; he's simply been trying to clean up from the ravages of everything Romney proposes to return America to. And if Romney wins, wave goodbye to the middle class. (Romney et al will be giving them the financial and social equivalent of the middle finger.) Go Obama, go! Todo bien.