I woke up at 5 a.m. wondering what bat shit crazy tweets had happened overnight from our POTUS. Had he started WWIII while I tried to sleep?  Thom is hoping for a Dr. Who moment where we wake up in a parallel universe and the biggest news story is a fashion feature on what color pantsuit our first woman President is wearing that day.  It’s nice sometimes to dream this isn’t happening to our great nation.  Retreat to a happy place.  But the reality of daily lies, law breaking, unlawful bans and more from our leader is our new reality.  Holy.  Hell.

Seriously, I have never in all my many years (the exact number cannot be shared) been frightened like this.  Should we have cash on hand to flee the country kind of scared.  Getting all my kids passports just in case scared.  But why should WE have to run away because less than the majority of voters thought it a good idea to place a pathologically lying, self-serving, racist, not-really-smart, dictator wannabe in charge of all our fates?

Unfortunately for me, I AM an informed voter who gets news from many different outlets not just the left or right.  That’s why I can’t sleep because I CAN see what’s going on and it’s a nightmare.  I can understand what is and isn’t fake news because I get the facts.  How do we reach the general population of America and educate them that “alternative facts” are just lies that leaders are using to scare the public to grant them more power?  That’s the question I keep pondering.  Is it too much to ask for our politicians to actually do good work that helps ALL people and not just worry about getting themselves re-elected to keep on doing nothing?

So, what’s a citizen to do besides running to our peaceful northern neighbor for a safe haven?  Get.  Active.  For the first time I marched and protested.  Thom and I took the time to make our voices heard in the Women’s March along with 150,000+ other peaceful Seattle citizens to demonstrate that we care about the rights of others.  I call our elected officials daily and encourage them to stand firm against tyranny.  I will send a post card on 3/15 to POTUS at the White House telling him that he works for me and I think he should be fired for his atrocious behavior while in office all of a month. We will give money to causes that are helping people like Planned Parenthood and the ACLU.  I will back candidates for the DNC Chair like Mayor Pete Buttigieg that I feel will give us fresh leadership and organize the party to gain back the House and Senate in 2018 midterm elections so we can at least balance the power in DC.

I actually have official protest clothing now.  No joke.  I just ordered a “Nasty Woman” t-shirt from the Samantha Bee site that benefits Planned Parenthood.  I reached out to a fellow marcher and got a pink pussy hat for the Women’s March.  Thom’s “icky Trump” t-shirt drew lots of comments and he plans to wear it to the Bruce Springsteen concert in Auckland next week.  If you’re going to make a statement, might as well look good doing it and be a walking billboard for your beliefs.

I will persist.  I will resist.  I will pray.  I will never give up.  What will you do?