End of the Summer, Conventions and Moves

It's all over the papers, television and magazines, Summer 08 has come to an end. Well, living in Florida that can hardly be major news. Here it's mild and humid and hot and sticky all year long. Still for the rest of the USA, things will slow down, children will start school after Labor Day and the days will grow shorter in September. County and State Fairs are a thing of the past, the ice cream man will stop coming around and long days outside by the pool, the beach or the barbecue will end.....many get sentimental about this.

This year, tough, there is excitement in the air that can replace that deflated feeling: it's Election Year! Both parties will have their conventions back to back in Denver and St. Paul and the political ads are heating up on television. The candidates are picking their running mates and you cannot watch anything but....politics! Being an independent, and not an American citizen, I look at all this with a critical eye. It is maybe not my place, but I do have an opinion of this show.

Americans are tired of the war, the economic picture, lack of affordable health care, jobs lost overseas, immigration laws that are not enforced, people that think they have the right to come and stay because they need a better life.....you name it. I think each one of these reasons is enough to promote change......I just don't see what is the change proposed. Call me skeptic, but I need specifics. Change needs to be spelled for me. Huge crowds yelling and carrying on are not my thing, I need substance. On the other hand, trying to get anywhere by promoting things that have not worked so far, can leave me uninterested. So, Obama or McCain......so far neither. One thing, though, Americans have to elect whom they want, not what they think the world wants.

For a while, I thought this country needed a woman. Hillary was the presumed candidate and she just couldn't hold on to it. Of course the fact that she couldn't treat her candidacy with a feminine touch was a big disappointment. Here you need to proof you are harder than a man, more ruthless and less sensitive......what a joke! Women get elected all over the world and in the land of opportunity you need to be more like a man to be awarded the highest prize. Even small Curaçao has had several Prime Ministers and Governors. So much for equality here. I came to the conclusion that a hard Hillary would not have been what was needed and that is very sad. Regardless who gets elected, this is still a great country and will survive!

Now that that is out, I want to discuss moves. Yes, that is also in the air these days. I was talking to a friend that just moved back to the States from Curaçao. After years there, Vickie and Mitch are relocating to Las Vegas! They find this an adventure. So at the end of the Summer they will go there, buy a place and move. She is excited, but she is a realist. If this doesn't work, she said, they can always move somewhere else. I totally understand her. It seems that once you have lived broad, move several times around the country or the world, another move is not hard to contemplate. I love it!

My news is that I am also in the moving mode. I feel like I can accomplish another and still have the energy to make it work. That is just good news for me. I am not adventurous, but I do like change that I can understand...for the better, for the more exciting. Miami has been hard to adjust to and hard to love. I have made in rows, and think I have done quite well. This blog has made my days so much interesting...but I don't picture myself doing this the rest of my life. Besides, things are really getting out of hand in this economy. There are alternatives, and I am out to explore them. Wish me luck!