Presidential Primaries and Lucky--or Unlucky?--Losers

Confession: I like politics. I DON'T like politicians and their frightening inability to get anything done, but I like following the news and generally being informed. I have opinions on most issues and, of course, most candidates. I don't share these opinions often, but at this pivotal juncture of the 2020 election cycle, I thought it might be worth digging into some relevant data.

First, a bit of background: I was a registered Republican until President Trump became the leader of the party in 2016. Now I'm an unaffiliated voter who leans right or left of center depending on the issue. Since I will never, ever vote for our current president, whose character I think thoroughly disqualifies him, I've been following the Democratic nomination process with more than just a passing interest.

It occurred to me last night that voters have been nominating what I'm calling lucky losers. So what is a lucky loser? It's a candidate who finished second in a presidential primary, then went on to secure his or her party's nomination in a subsequent election cycle. There are multiple examples, including John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Hillary Clinton, to name the most recent few. In fact, since 2004, the first presidential election in which I was eligible to vote, nearly half of the major parties' nominees have been lucky losers, as you can see below:

(i) = incumbent, (i*) = un-elected incumbent, ** = candidate who won most delegates but lost nomination

I've bolded the names of my so-called lucky losers so they're easier to spot. As you can see, Republicans have been much more likely to nominate lucky losers than their Democratic counterparts. In fact, Hillary Clinton was the first Democratic lucky loser in almost fifty years.

But what do John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Hillary Clinton have in common? NONE OF THEM WERE PRESIDENT. Lucky losers haven't won a presidential election since George H. W. Bush in 1988, and the only other lucky loser who eventually won the presidency was Ronald Reagan in 1980.

Why am I bringing this up now? Because Bernie Sanders looks poised to become the second Democratic lucky loser in as many election cycles and, as history has taught us, lucky losers tend to lose. Now, in Bernie Sanders's case, this wouldn't make me feel too bad. As much as I admire him for sticking to his principles, I can't in good conscience endorse most of his policies. But I also can't imagine reelecting Donald Trump, which is exactly what I fear will happen if Bernie Sanders wins the Democratic nomination.

Where Are We Supposed to Go from Here?

I'm not sure what to say right now. I keep logging on to Twitter, scrolling through my feed, getting sad/tired/upset, and logging back out. I can't deal with the world right now, not its hatred, not its violence, not its nastiness.

In some ways, I feel like an outsider looking in. I didn't vote for Mr. Trump, but I didn't vote for Ms. Clinton, either. As a compassionate conservative, I feared--and still fear--a Trump presidency, but I couldn't get behind enough of Ms. Clinton's policies to really get behind her. Add to that the fact that I think they're both compulsive liars who've broken several major laws, and the last thing I wanted to do was give either one my vote. But I'm still in disbelief. I'm still mourning what I thought was the greater of two unhappy outcomes. I'm still sad/tired/upset.

Where are we supposed to go from here? I thought Ms. Clinton's concession speech and President Obama's come-to-Lincoln moment were noble and inspiring, and even Mr. Trump's victory lap was more gracious than I thought it would be. But that hasn't seemed to make one speck of difference on the ground. Xenophobes are jeering. Protesters are marching. Racists are being racist. (I'm trying to construct a time machine and skip ahead to 2020, but science was never my best subject.)

I'm disappointed in my country, which I think made the wrong choice. I'm disappointed in my state, which had a historic opportunity to reject both major-party candidates and vote for real change. (In the end, we voted for the guy everyone thought we would vote for, the guy who's been saying about Muslims what Governor Boggs said about many of our ancestors when, in 1838, Missouri legalized the wholesale killing of Mormons.) And I'm disappointed by the vitriol that's still flying back and forth. President Obama said we weren't Republicans or Democrats but Americans first.

To be honest, I'm not sure that's true.

I don't know where I'm going with this. I don't know why I'm even writing it. I guess I just want to say we can't keep going as we have. We have to change our hearts and minds if we ever hope to be one nation, or someday, we will fall apart.

Spotted in a Smith's Parking Lot

I have nothing against stick-figure-family decals--in fact, I kind of like them--but this one made me LOL.
(And if you don't know what a stick-figure-family decal is, you've clearly never been to Utah.)

Operation Every Child

The teen blogger over at Bookish Serendipity recently alerted me to a fundraiser she's started that I wanted to share with you. Operation Every Child plans to give each kid at a Toronto women's shelter two new books for Christmas. All proceeds will benefit the shelter, and teen blogger Jessica has organized the entire thing, making it not just a great cause but a great extracurricular activity. I wish I'd had such great ideas when I was fourteen.

(Fellow children's authors, if you're interested in donating books directly, feel free to get in touch with Jessica at contact(at)bookishserendipity(dot)com!)

On Differences of Opinion and Treating Folks with Respect

I’ve been writing this post in my head for months and on paper for weeks. It’s something I’ve thought about and wrestled with, since I’ve wanted to make sure I got every word right. I don’t know if I’ve done that, but I have given it a lot of thought, and I hope you’ll read it in the same spirit in which I wrote it.

I know that what follows will be a politically unpopular opinion (so if you prefer to avoid politics--and religion--in general, you should probably stop reading now). I know I might lose followers and perhaps people’s respect. But I cringe every time I hear someone refer to me as a bigot without knowing anything about me, so even though I post this with some amount of trepidation, I feel strongly that I need to post it.

Please know that it’s not my intent to argue. I didn’t write this post to try to change anyone’s mind. You feel the way you feel because of your beliefs, and I respect both you and them. I only want to explain why I feel the way I feel and perhaps shed a little light on why we feel so differently. I don’t think it’s because you’re a heathen and I’m not (or I’m narrow-minded and you’re not). I think it’s because we start with very different premises.

#

Lots of folks see this life as a blip of self-awareness between an unknown past and an uncertain future (or between nothing at all), but because of my religious beliefs, I see it as the second act in a three-act play. I believe we lived with God before we came to earth. What’s more, I believe we lived with Him as children. I call Him Heavenly Father because I believe He is a man, with arms and legs and hands and feet, and because I believe He is the father of my spirit, the part of me that cannot die. And if I have a Heavenly Father, I must also have a Heavenly Mother, for it takes a mother and a father to create human life. I know nothing about Her except that She exists, but I believe that They rule as equal partners and that Their only goal is to help us find peace and happiness in this life and in the life to come.

They sent us to this earth to gain physical bodies, obtain real-world experience, and overcome trials and challenges beyond the protective circle of Their home. They gave us families, patterned after the one we had in heaven, to help us achieve these goals.

I don’t think God intended these relationships to end at death. Because our families were patterned after the one we had in heaven, He wants us to return to live with Him together. What’s more, He wants us to live in these families forever. Because it takes a mother and a father to create human life, families based on another pattern won’t be viable eternally.

#

In other words, my position on same-sex marriage is wrapped up in my belief in God and what my religion teaches is His plan for His children. If you don’t believe that this is His plan for us, I would never expect you to feel how I feel about same-sex marriage.

At this point, some of you might be thinking, “Yes, but what right do you have to force your beliefs on me?” As I said at the outset, it isn’t my intention to force these beliefs on anyone; I’m only trying to explain why I feel the way I feel. Now, having said that, I will say that I do vote for laws that define marriage traditionally, but that’s because I think that God will hold me accountable for the choices I make and the laws I vote for. I feel that marriage is defined by Him and not subject to our interpretation.

#

Even though I don’t support laws that redefine marriage, I do support civil unions for same-sex couples. Also, I don’t believe that same-sex couples should be discriminated against or treated unkindly. For instance, if I were a nurse and my supervisor told me that I couldn’t allow the partner of a homosexual patient to spend the night at the hospital, I would be the first to defy that policy. Similarly, I don’t think that same-sex couples should be denied housing or banned from stores or restaurants because of their sexual orientation.

Furthermore, I strongly condemn hate crimes. In the early 1800s, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly referred to as Mormons, suffered mistreatment and abuse at the hands of the majority--at one point, it was actually legal to kill Mormons in one state in this country for no other reason than that they were Mormon--so I empathize with those who’ve experienced similar mistreatment. Hate crimes are hateful and NEVER okay.

If God is my father--and I believe that He is--then I must believe that He’s your father, too, and if He's your father, you're my brothers and sisters. I believe our Heavenly Father expects us to treat each other with compassion. He can’t look upon sin with the least degree of allowance, but He loves those who sin--which is all of us, of course--treating them with kindness and respect. He wants us to do the same.

#

Now that I’ve said my piece, I’m going to let this post speak for itself. You’re welcome to share your own thoughts and opinions in the comments, but I ask that you don’t engage previous commenters in a debate. Similarly, while I usually respond to every comment on my blog, I’m not going to respond to the comments on this post. Despite the world’s opinion to the contrary, I still believe it’s possible to respectfully disagree.

Another Movie Review from Honey Bear

We finally saw Pacific Rim, and Honey Bear's review made me laugh out loud. Now, I know a lot of you enjoyed the movie, so let me preface this by saying we did not. The first hour was entertaining, but the remaining HOUR AND A HALF could have used a really solid edit. Like, really solid. So this review totally falls under the category of irreverent and less-than-complimentary, like his review for Eclipse. Enjoy?

Pacific Rim (2013) *1/2 (Directed by Guillermo del Toro)

The film begins with some growly-voiced expository narration that spoon-feeds you all the ridiculous world-building you need to know: “The alien monsters came out of the ocean and destroyed our cities. We built giant robots. We didn’t invest in really big cannons with loads of firepower to put along the coastlines--we invented and then built astronomically expensive robots with tons of moving parts, and barely any firepower (some of them actually use giant swords). And we didn’t make them remote controlled--there has to be people in them. And not just one person, 'cuz they would get a bloody nose. So TWO people have to use them. But since they’re both controlling the robot simultaneously, they have to link to each other psychically and share all their deepest fears and most horrible memories while fighting giant monsters in their giant robots. And we won every fight. Until we didn’t. And now everything has changed…”

We then see the main character, who I will call White Guy #1 (all the white guys in this movie look the same, but after a while you start to tell them apart), and his brother, White Guy #2, fighting a monster, who manages to rip White Guy #2 right out of the robot’s head. White Guy #1 still manages to beat the monster. Fast forward five years and White Guy #1 is approached by his old giant-robot boss, who I will refer to as Black Guy:

White Guy #1: “I can’t go back to being a giant robot pilot. I can’t do that again. Not ever. Not again. Never. I’ll never, never, NEVER do that again.”

Black Guy: “We all die someday. Come die in a big robot.”

White Guy #1: “Okay!”

He then goes to a base in Hong Kong, which houses the last four giant robots left. Luckily, rather than attacking the now-defenseless cities of the world, all the giant monsters that come through the portal make a beeline for Hong Kong. But before any of that happens you get an hour of character “development.” White Guy #1 meets White Guys #3 and #4. They add nothing to the plot but do manage some confusion, as they look just like White Guys #1 and #2. 

White Guy #1 also meets Japanese Girl, who he fights with sticks, enabling him to discern that he is psychically compatible with her. (I assume these stick fights will replace online dating in the future.) Then Black Guy says, “She’s not ready to be a pilot. I’ll never let you pilot a giant robot with her. That’s impossible. It will never, ever, EVER happen.” Then the next morning he’s like, “Suit up, Japanese Girl!” and she’s his new copilot. 

Then some other short-lived story obstacles keep them from fighting more monsters for another twenty minutes. Along the way, nobody obeys a single thing that Black Guy tells them to do. Then you get the second monster fight. Then there is another half hour of nothing (there might have been something, but I probably slept through it), then they have their big last fight. Somewhere along the line the most annoying scientists in the history of cinema figure out some stuff and the guy who played Hellboy pops up acting like a sixth-grade bully. And that’s it. Three big fights in two and half hours. 

Many people who saw this film in theaters said that while the movie was kind of dumb, and the plot simple, and the dialogue bad, they still liked it because…“It has giant robots fighting giant monsters! What’s not to like?!” Well, that argument might have worked on me when I was twelve years old, but these days I guess I expect a little more out of my movies. It’s just Power Rangers with a budget. Power Rangers mixed with Independence Day. With the interpersonal skills of Top Gun thrown in for good measure.

We Are All the Problem

In real life, I fraternize almost exclusively with Republicans. They know how to do amazing things like drive very large vehicles and build houses by themselves. They also share their views loudly and freely, confident in the assumption that they're surrounded by like-minded peers (or that, if they're not, the other side is comprised of Satan's spawn, so who cares what they think?). They rabidly defame Obamacare, conveniently ignoring the market inefficiencies it corrects, and spew vitriol about the president and anyone else who happens to disagree with them.

Online, I fraternize almost exclusively with Democrats. They know how to do amazing things like land invites to swanky cocktail parties and organize relief efforts for shooting victims. They also share their views loudly and freely, confident in the assumption that they're surrounded by like-minded peers (or that, if they're not, the other side is comprised of idiots--honestly, their average IQ can't be much higher than 100--so who cares what they think?). They rabidly defend the Affordable Care Act, conveniently ignoring the long-term problems it creates, and sling pithy one-liners at the religious right and anyone else who happens to disagree with them.

Is it any wonder that our legislators, the vast majority of whom will shortly be campaigning for these people's votes, can't stand to look at one another, much less work together?

For the record, I'm a registered Republican, though I identify with that party less and less every day. I guess I'm more of a centrist, willing to give up ground on most issues so I can stand firm on the ones I really care about. As a result, I usually end up playing devil's advocate loudly and freely (which, I'm afraid, makes me just as guilty of the overzealous rhetoric I've been decrying in this post).

The truth is, we'd all be better off if we'd just sit down and, you know, talk. Ask each other what we think and why. Not make assumptions about the people on the other side of the aisle just because we disagree. If one side had all the answers, we wouldn't be having this argument, and I think it's safe to say we're in the middle of a slugfest.

So let's just talk (preferably with the intent to understand where we're both coming from).

Critique Winners and Other Tidbits

Thank you for your comments on last week's post! Like a nerd, I put together a quick tally of everyone's favorite shots, so here's how those broke down:

Picture	Votes
#1	6
#2	22
#3	32
#4	8
#5	1

Picture #3 was the clear favorite, but the more I looked at it, the more I decided I didn't really like my hair. It swoops over my shoulder on one side and kind of hangs in irregular pieces on the other, so I think I'm going to go with #2. I love the blurred-out brick wall, and with a little cropping, I'm sure I can produce the same kind of close-up look that #3 has going for it. (Photographer Julie informed me the images would be sharp enough to crop at will!)

And now for the winners of the query or first-page critique:

Amy Smith

Ninja Girl

kathrynjankowski

A.J. Cattapan

Lorena

If you guys have a query or first page you'd like a little more feedback on, feel free to send it to me at kvandolzer(at)gmail(dot)com!

Last but not least, I just scheduled an interactive installment of "Interview with an Agent" with Ginger Knowlton of Curtis Brown, Ltd., so definitely come back next Wednesday, July 17, and ask her your questions!

Head Shots Galore

If you haven't figured it out already, I'm not a picture person. I rarely use them on the blog, and my Twitter avatar only says, "[INSERT AVATAR HERE]." Not surprisingly, then, I've put off taking head shots for a long time--but no longer! Thanks to Julie Kirby of Simply You Photo, I'll now have a picture that doesn't include a Christmas tree or Honey Bear's tie:)

At the risk of looking vain, I've included a few of my favorites below, and I'd love to hear which ones you like best (or which ones you DON'T like). To sweeten the deal, I'll offer a query or first-page critique to one five random commenters! (You're welcome to comment as long as you want, but the giveaway will close sometime next week. I'm not sure when...)

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

Thoughts?

Fun fact: We took all of these on Main Street in Kaysville, Utah, which is where I grew up. It feels like my lifelong dream of publishing a book has come full circle.

And You Thought I Was the Only Writer in the Family...

A little homegrown entertainment to carry you into the weekend. Honey Bear’s been writing movie reviews for his younger brother, who’s been on a mission for the last two years and unable to see any of the new releases. This one’s our favorite (review*, that is). It’s for the 2010 release of Eclipse:

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010) * (All those moody people from the previous films)

Bella: My life is so horrible.

Jacob: My life is worse.

Edward: I’m not even alive, but you guys have no idea how tortured I am. Why won’t you marry me, Bella?

Bella: Because I have an irrational aversion to the institution of marriage. Besides, we need two more films, so we’re going to have to drag this out. And because I’m chronically depressed, even though I have everything I ever wanted in the previous films.

Jacob: Speaking of dragging things out, how is it that this film is already an hour long and all we’ve done is have one conversation?

Edward: I hate your face. You make me want to throw up every time I see you.

Jacob: I hope you die. Ah! My life is so awful!

*Thirty minutes of back story on vampires or werewolves we didn’t need to know*

Some vampire we’re supposed to know: Oh, no! An army of, like, seven vampires is coming to kill Bella.

Honey Bear: Woohoo!

Edward and Jacob: I’m not going to let that happen. I’ll die for you, Bella. Wait, you can’t die for her, I’m going to die first. No, me!

Honey Bear: Why do you guys even like that whiny baby?

Edward: Because it’s in the script.

*Thirty minutes of back story on vampires or werewolves we didn’t need to know*

Bella: Oh, no! Here’s the army.

Jacob: Why do we keep calling them an army? There’s, like, more of us than them.

Edward: Shh. This is supposed to be intense.

*Thirty minutes of back story on vampires or werewolves we didn’t need to know*

Edward: Wow, that was a really anticlimactic time to have a long and pointless flashback.

Director: Shut up and glower, spider monkey!

Edward: Oh, my life is so awful…

Director: That’s better.

*Two minutes of fighting that the entire film has been building up to*

Edward: Well, that was easy. Even though they were supposed to be way stronger than us, we totally trashed them and nobody important even got hurt.

Jacob: Ow! I think I’ve shattered half the bones in my spectacularly chiseled body.

Bella: Jake, I love you, but I love Edward more.

Jacob: Wow, that’s a weird thing to say to someone right after they get crushed for you.

Bella: You’ll get over it because of your inexplicable love for me.

Edward: Let’s get back to our horrible lives.

Bella: Wow, I can’t believe a story that’s as anemic as I am can be stretched into a twelve-hour film.

(PG-13 for a horrifying absence of anything like comic relief and a make-out scene that is really long and uncomfortable)

Told you I wasn’t the only writer in the family:)

*This is the only review Honey Bear wrote like a script, but maybe he should have written all of them this way, since this one turned out so well…

Unreliable Narrators?

I’ve been meaning to share this clip for a while; it's the first in a series of videos called Kid History. A lot of you have probably seen them, but if you haven’t, here’s how they work: The kids retell a story from their dads’ childhoods, a story they’ve clearly heard a million times, and then the dads act out their kids’ retelling of it, with their kids’ dialogue and everything.

Adds a whole new meaning to the expression “unreliable narrators,” don’t you think? :)

But it also raises an interesting question: Would your manuscript be more exciting if you let another narrator tell it? Something to mull over while you check out the first episode of Kid History...



My favorite Kid History episode is actually the second one, so if you have a minute, you might pop over to Youtube and check it out. And I hope everyone has a great Friday and an even greater weekend!

Little Things

Yesterday, I shared some of the big things I’d like to see before I die. Today, I want to share some of the little things.

1. Fireflies. I don’t think you Easterners realize how totally awesome these bugs are. I’d definitely be willing to trade a few scorpions for some fireflies.

2. A field of sunflowers. Wouldn’t a field of sunflowers, all of them facing the sun, just be the happiest thing you’ve ever seen?

It’s a shorter list, I know, but I’m still adding to it. Happily, the list of little things I’ve already seen is longer.

1. Wild dolphins frolicking in the waves. My in-laws lived in Carlsbad, California, for a few years, an d we always went to the beach every time we visited. On one of our outings, I saw two dolphins cavorting in the same breakers we’d been swimming in earlier. I decided they must have been on their honeymoon:)

2. Caterpillars morphing into butterflies. When I was around nine, a neighbor lady offered my mother two caterpillars in a jar. She took them, of course, and for the next couple of weeks, we watched these caterpillars eat their way through bunches of leaves, spin themselves into cocoons, and emerge as two huge monarch butterflies. As I watched them fly away, I got this strange twist in my stomach. I didn’t know then--but I do now--that it was the bittersweet twinge all mothers feel when they watch their little ones go out into the world.

3. A whole rainbow. I walked out of a college class one afternoon, and there it was, a whole rainbow, a perfect arc that touched the ground in two places. If I’d been the gold-chasing type, I would have had two chances that day.

Again, I’ll probably come back and add to this list over the next few days or weeks, but since I-gots is at preschool right now, I want to get working on Bob. So I’ll finish by asking you the same question I asked yesterday (well, almost the same question): What little things would you like to see before you die, and which ones have you seen already?

Big Things

We all have a list of big things we’d like to see before we die. Here are a few of mine, in no particular order:

1. The Hagia Sophia. When I took AP Art History in high school, this was the building I fell in love with. The Hagia Sophia has been both a basilica and a mosque, but I want to see it for its clerestory, a window-lined wall that rises above the roofline of the surrounding walls. The Hagia Sophia’s clerestory is just below its dome, and they say that at certain times of day, when the light’s shooting through those windows at just the right angle, the dome looks like it’s hovering on a cloud of light. I’d like to see what a cloud of light looks like.

2. Italy, any or all of it. I’m not picky.

3. New York City. I’ve had a fascination with this city for a long time, even before I started trying to publish a book:) When Honey Bear got to go there on a mock trial trip before we were married, I was supremely jealous. (He was kind enough to bring me back a New York City T-shirt, though, which I still wear proudly.)

4. The Grand Canyon. I live, like, an hour away from the North Rim (if I don't mind taking a four-wheeler up and over a mountain on a gravelly trail), but I’ve still never been there. Maybe when I-gots is a little older, we’ll have to make the trip (though I think I’d prefer going the long way around in a car).

5. Angel Falls. Have you seen that shot in the BBC’s Planet Earth, when the camera sweeps over the top of Angel Falls and down the drop-off? It’s not the world’s tallest waterfall for nothing.

6. Ireland. (See the comments.)

7. An erupting volcano. I'd prefer not to be in the path of the erupting volcano, but hey, if I ever am, at least I'll be able to check another thing off my list. Gotta look on the bright side, right?

8. The Mississippi River, 'cause it's huge. Have you seen how huge it is? Out here in the West, our rivers come in medium, small, and so small a three-year-old can hop across them.

And here are a couple of big things I’ve already seen:

1. Yellowstone. I’ve even stood thirty feet down a boardwalk from a wild buffalo. A herd happened to come through the patch of mud pots we happened to be looking at, and when I broke through a knot of people, well, there it was. My little sister was with me, so I muttered to her, “Let’s just put our heads down and back away slowly.” If a park ranger had been there, he or she probably would have had a fit.

2. The Alamo, which is actually much smaller than it looks. I lived in San Antonio for about a year as a kid, and we visited the Alamo several times. My dad is something of a war history buff.

I might come back and add to this list over the next few days or weeks, but for now, I’ll just turn the question back around to you. What big things would you like to see before you die, and which ones have you already seen?

Too Much Information (in One Word or Less)

I'm answering Myrna's questions because she said I had to. And in the spirit of sharing something new about myself with you. And because I'm having a hard time with the post I planned to write.

Here's the catch: Every answer has to be one, and just one, word.

Your Cell Phone? Cheap
Your Hair? Mahogany
Your Mother? Laugh
Your Father? Read
Your Favorite Food? Lasagna
Your Dream Last Night? School
Your Favorite Drink? Water
Your Dream/Goal? Publication
What Room Are You In? Kitchen
Your Hobby? Writing
Your Fear? Potty-training
Where Do You See Yourself In Six Years? Home
Where Were You Last Night? Bed
Something That You Aren't? Shy
Muffins? YES
Wish List Item? Agent
Where Did You Grow Up? Kaysville
Last Thing You Did? Nursed
What Are You Wearing? Turtleneck
Your TV? Sony
Your Pets? NO
Friends? Family
Your Life? Super-fantastic
Your Mood? Relieved
Missing Someone? Nope
Vehicle? One
Something You Aren't Wearing? Contacts
Your Favorite Store? n/a
Your Favorite Color? Green
When Was The Last Time You Laughed? Today
Last Time You Cried? Whacked
Your Best Friend? Honey Bear
One Place You Go To Over And Over Again? Church
Facebook? Blogger:)
Favorite Place To Eat? Anywhere

To clarify, the last thing I did was nurse my baby, not myself. And the last time I cried was when my two-year-old, not my husband, whacked me. In the nose. With a cabinet door. So the tears were purely automatic.

If you read this, you are automatically charged with the task of answering these questions yourself.

Have a nice day:)

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

With Thanksgiving approaching, my thoughts keep turning to the many things I’m thankful for. Of course I’m thankful for the usual things--my husband, my children, my good health, my nice home, my writing; in fact, I’d even go so far as to say that I’m deliriously grateful for these blessings. But today I want to focus on some of the smaller, less usual things that make my life a little nicer, a little easier, a little better. So here are a few of the little things I’m thankful for:

1. Word processors. I can’t help but wonder if I’d be a writer without one. I’m sure I would have started writing, since I didn’t use one as a child, but would I have kept up the hobby if my only instruments were still a pen and paper or, gasp, a typewriter? I honestly don’t know. I don’t like to think of myself as a lazy person, but I think we’re all given to the path of least resistance. So I’m thankful for word processors, which make writing practically painless (blood, sweat, and tears notwithstanding).

2. A toddler who sleeps eleven or twelve hours every night (and has since he was six months old). This one is especially apparent now that I have another kid who doesn’t:)

3. Garlic presses. Love the taste of garlic, hate the mess of chopping it. This small tool has got to be one of the greatest inventions known to man.

4. The Las Vegas-Clark County Library District. I live in a small town about eighty miles northeast of Las Vegas, so the local library is about the size of my quaint starter home. Thankfully, that tiny library is part of the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District, which moves more books than Butterball does turkeys. I (heart) LVCCLD.

5. Hand-me-downs (and the neighbors who keep bringing them). With all the money we’ve saved on toys and clothes, we could probably purchase a small island.

6. No-bake cookies. I recently rediscovered the joys of these childhood delicacies. All you need to make them is a few common pantry items and about ten minutes. And with three whole cups of oats in every batch, I’ve decided they’re even good for you, too:)

Well, those, in my book, are some of life’s little miracles. What are some of yours?

Ode to the Underslept

I've never thought myself
a poet
but if the Beatles can compose
high on LSD
then maybe I can manage
on four hours' sleep.
This is for the insomniacs,
the overworked assistants,
the regretful garbage people who
shriek by
at five-oh-seven in the morning--
but mostly for
the mothers
who work three jobs,
refuse to give up on that
math assignment
even though it's after ten,
and still love their children
enough to kiss them
kiss them
kiss them
after rocking
rocking
rocking
until five-oh-six.