Happy Birthday to Me, Part 2

My aunt sent me a big box of teas again this year. It's very sweet, really. Since she moved to Florida decades ago, she recalls Chicagoland as an arctic tundra and wants to help me ward off the cold. The thing of it is she sends me more than I can ever drink. So I will go through the box and what I know I won't consume, I'll either donate to the food pantry or give to Will and Gregory when we meet for Thanksgiving dinner. 

She also included a festive little Christmas pin. I mentioned on Facebook that I lost one last year and was bummed about it. Again, it was so sweet of her to remember that after all this time and act on it.

What's sad about this is how small her world has become. Like many who are MAGA (or MAGA adjacent), she just can't resist telling the rest of us how very wrong we are. And reveal what a racist homophobe she is. Her oldest son, my sisters, and her adult grandchildren are all estranged from her. She has a great grandchild she hasn't seen. She's been enduring health problems – as people knocking on 80 will – and is hurt that they don't check on her. The only Mother's Day gifts she receives anymore are from me (she's my Godmother). 

I wonder if the cold comfort she receives by "being right" about Trump is worth it. 

I prefer to focus on the fact that she's one of two people left on earth who held me as a baby. I choose to treasure that she loves me and is my last tie to my favorite grandparents.*

And I cannot wait until this MAGA fever breaks and I can celebrate my birthday without Donald Trump intruding on it!

*My grandmother never missed church and was very active in the congregation and the Girl Scouts. She was every inch a lady. My grandfather was a German immigrant who was outspoken in his support of unions and Democrats from FDR to Jimmy Carter (<<< President when he died). They would be appalled by MAGA.

 

Photo by Olena Bohovyk on Unsplash