Since our married life began right here on this exact piece of land, from the day we said our vows, we have been following the news of the world from this same, but ever-changing setting, together.
We bought our first TV right after our 1974 June wedding specifically in order to follow the Watergate hearings, and I clearly remember sitting on the dusty sofa that had belonged to Herb's former girlfriend, taking all this in. The livingroom was particularly disgusting, because I had started ripping the wallpaper off the ceiling (I know, how does wallpaper get on a ceiling?) without bothering to move or tarp any of the furniture below. We were so happy that hot August afternoon when Nixon resigned in order to avoid impeachment. We had hated him for years as the villain of the Vietnam War.
But it's funny now, looking back, the Presidents we've disliked. Thanks to Trump, even George Bush seems like something of a teddy bear. Many of them were men we disagreed with politically, but I now see I could have sat across a dinner table from any of them. Donald Trump, in contrast, absolutely makes my skin crawl. Until him, we really had no idea what it would be like to have for a President a thoroughly despicable human being.
The summer after Nixon, we sat on the front porch steps (still wooden, not yet brick) and speculated whether they'd ever find Patty Hearst, and had she actually joined with her radical kidnappers.
Fall of 1991 found us in the backyard, rolling out and reseeding the lawn while we listened to Anita Hill testifying in Clarence Thomas's hearings for confirmation to the Supreme Court. It would have gone right over the heads of the five-year-old twins, and Miles, at 11, was in school. My memory of that project is entirely of the red hot anger that burned in my chest over this, especially when Thomas was confirmed.
Ten years later, on the sunny morning of 9/11, standing on that same, now thick lawn, we noted the eerie calm of the blue skies as all planes had been grounded. Then, as no one suggested we do otherwise, we drove the twins to high school.
Today, we're repainting (for the third time) and re-installing the fancy, funky garden gate, and strengthening the fences against the overly bold deer. And what are we discussing? Melania Trump. As in, where is she? Not sighted for 22 days. This is not right, folks. For the record, I think Herb's theory makes the most sense. Maybe she's just fed up. Maybe she's saying, "Hey, you want me to come out and act like a nice First Lady? Tough!"
I sincerely hope for the sake of the entire world that we will be looking back at this day and noting that it was right before Mueller came out with indictments which will prove the beginning of the end for this so-called Presidency. Donald Trump is bad for my mental health and that of everybody I know, and we want relief!