Dreaming Existence: We’re Back! #SoCS #trip #Panama

I’m baaaack…

Wow. It seems like more than a week since we left. Well, we actually returned on Tuesday. Exactly a week for the trip. We have to return to the states every six months to follow up on hubby’s treatment. He’s doing well! So much to be thankful for. Neither place we call home is under attack by a foreign country. We wake to the sounds of birds and the wind whispering through the trees, not exploding bombs and air raid signals. My heart breaks for Ukraine and its leader, its courageous people and the entire planet we take for granted.

It’s wake up up time folks. Feeling snug as a bug in our safe little homes won’t keep climate change away, won’t stop maniacal men from rising to power and destroying everything beautiful and sacred in the world. We have to fight the wave of narcissistic authoritarian uprising that will be the end of our true freedoms.

How?

Speak up, speak out, refuse to go along. Fear is the real enemy. Fear of losing material things, fear of being different, fear of losing family or friends who don’t feel the same way. There is no ‘good’ and ‘evil’ in the world. Those concepts inspire helplessness while we wait for good to save us and cower before the power of evil.

Fear incites all ‘evil’ acts, from stealing candy at a store or money from your Mom’s purse to bombing abortion clinics and storming innocent children at school with assault weapons. And the fear mongers are rising, spreading hatred and vitriol like fertilizer for the simple minded.

Love is acceptance, compassion, understanding, patience, caring, consideration, empathy, grace and forgiveness. What it is not and should not be is complacence and passivity. We must use our voices, fight for our voting rights and raise our children and grandchildren to love. Creating emotional strength in our kids gives them the foundation for doing good work in their lives. And, yes, once again the responsibility falls on the parents. Our newborns are like a a blank canvas. What we put to the canvas from day one determines the path they follow. While we can’t walk that path for them, we can instill the ideals, morals and fortitude they will need to survive this life that seems to be getting more tangled every day.

While the voices of madness ring loud and clear around us, blaring from our mobile devices and being given attention by the foolish media, too many loving people sit by, shaking their heads in defeated silence. Ukraine as a country should be an example. Only we save ourselves.

Soapbox going back in the closet now. I hear birds!

Oh yes.. the trip.

Good report from the doctor, a small amount of time with family and a trip to storage for some ‘treasures’ to bring comfort. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves…