When I first began Marshmallow Ranch, it was just a little Facebook page promoting jewelry I made in my art studio. I networked part of the day to build an audience, and worked the rest of the day in my studio upstairs. Mr. Virgo was working at the Ritz Carlton in Aspen, and I was still working part time as a Clinical Pharmaceutical Research Coordinator. I slowly but surely gained followers and shipped jewelry out several days a week, when the unthinkable happened and my world crashed down around me.

Slowly...ever so slowly...the Covid surge from holiday travel and gatherings has begun to come down. My friend sends me the West Virginia data every morning like clockwork. And we examine it for any promising sign that things are improving. I know the dominant driver of this decline is the fact that it’s January. We don’t have too many places to go. No holidays, no celebrations, no huge gatherings. Just football and fireplaces and reading a good book.

I’ve survived a lot in my sixty-seven years. Abuse, trauma, addiction, depression. And, every time I’ve gone through a rough patch, I come out feeling such a tremendous sense of relief and gratitude that the pain finally stopped. I have to say...I felt that yesterday. When you are in the trenches for a long time, it’s really easy to convince yourself you’re doing ok. It’s not so bad. I can do this. Then, when the weight is lifted, you realize just how awful it was down there. It’s the same as when you’ve been very sick with a bad flu. When you feel better is when you realize just how sick you really were.

I’ve been having a ball this week with the fun memes using Bernie Sanders in his warm parka and mittens at the inauguration. When I first saw him walking in, looking around for his seat, I laughed out loud because he looked all the world like another Bernie I knew and loved. My second father-in-law (whom we affectionately referred to as Pop) was, from all appearances, a bit of a schlub. Lacking social graces, definitely rough around the edges...not one ounce of self awareness, Pop had a huge heart of gold and would do absolutely anything for you if you were a hard worker. He loved big and talked loud and stumbled through life with not a lot of fluff. But, oh....we all loved him fiercely and miss him so much.

My good friend “Sparky” sent me a link early Tuesday morning and said to go there to sign up for the Covid vaccine. I hit send around 9:00am Tuesday. Sparky called yesterday morning on her way home from getting her first shot. She advised me to answer the phone when it rings, even if I don’t recognize the number, because volunteers were using their personal cell phones to call you to schedule. I made sure the sound was turned up and sure enough, around 2:00 yesterday afternoon, they called to see if we could be there at 4:12. I told her we absolutely would be there!

I had a very long day yesterday. Mr. FixIt left early to go to Sam’s during the time set aside for Prime Members...before the doors open to the general public. There were only three people in the whole warehouse. I elected not to go because I wanted to watch President Trump’s farewell speech at Andrews. It is not lost on me that many of you did not want to see him go and the day was sad for you. I feel for your sadness, disappointment, anger...because I’ve known the same. If this contentious election taught me anything, it’s the ability to put myself in someone else’s shoes and have empathy. It has also given me an opportunity to step back and look at politics through a different lens. Instead of standing so far apart, slinging stones and arrows...I recognize this is the process our country was built on. This is the reason there is not a monarchy or an autocracy. Our form of government was designed to take turns. The pendulum swings...wildly at times...but it always comes back in a different direction. I think, doing a job we can be proud of is a worthy goal for either side and working together for the greater good gives us ample opportunity for improvement. There has been an awful lot of divisive rhetoric over time that makes us see the worst in each other. I strive to do the opposite.

After lingering snow flurries yesterday morning, the sun was shining through the kitchen window when I made my way to the coffeemaker. It was a gorgeous day, albeit quite chilly. I worked on the website again most of the day and I’m 3/4ths of the way through June 2016. I finally quit in the late afternoon and went for a walk around the perimeter of our acreage. The ground is soft and wet. Interestingly, in a swath about ten feet wide, all the way around, the ground was full of humped up ground where moles and voles dig tunnels looking for grubs.

In psychology, the Ripple Effect is “emotional contagion in groups”. In other words, the emotions of one person can effect the mood of many others in the group. Negative energy is more readily spread. We’re all familiar with this in our daily interactions with others. 

I think we can all agree there is a whole lot of negative energy swirling around in the world right now. It seems the volatile combination of a contentious political environment, a worldwide pandemic, and the resultant fallout of the two is taking it’s toll on everyone. Our collective mental health is suffering and I am praying in the coming months, we can start turning some of that around with calmer waters. When we get come semblance of control over this virus through vigorous health habits and herd immunity through vaccination and antibodies, we can get back to a more normal life.

I’ve been very selective how I spend my social media time over the last few months. Yes, occasionally I get caught up and head down a rabbit hole but I’m finding that kind of time suck doesn’t serve me well. We cannot spend much time on Facebook without seeing disparaging comments coming from both sides of the aisle and I’ve had just about enough of it.

Our days run together punctuated with high drama and mundane tedium. Since before Christmas, I have spent many hours every day...snuggled in my really awesome new recliner...moving those posts from Facebook to my website. Day after day...it’s pretty much the same. Which breakfast should we have today? Get the second cup of coffee. The hours are filled in between with writing. We don’t really eat lunch so the next big event is “What shall we have for supper?” Then it’s news and I’m off to write my post.