Susan Senator

“If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I’ll never go looking any further than my own backyard…”
Dorothy, Wizard of Oz

“After all, tomorrow is another day.”
Scarlett, Gone With the Wind

Yesterday, I was down. Today, not so much. After a lot of crying and just thinking and feeling, I came to terms with some pretty hard sh**. In my true turn-on-a-dime fashion, I was much better by dinner time, although my eyes were puffy and strange; nothing that a little Trish McEvoy couldn’t fix. I then did what any red-blooded American Princess (notice I say “A.P.” rather than “J.A.P.” because my thinking is, what does being Jewish have to do with my self-absorbed, entitled attitude? No, really! Don’t blame the Jews for my high-maintenance crap!) So I did what any other red-blooded A.P. would do after having a horrible day: I put on my skinniest jeans, black boots, and black tee shirt and I went to a meeting. A meeting with the Dark Side.

I refer to these neighbors as the “Dark Side” because in all my years of local politics, I have never been allied with these particular folk. They are considered “conservatives” in my extremely Liberal town, a place where people joke about the Left and the Right being Trotskyites and Leninists. Truth is, there are actually Republicans in my town; in my neighborhood, even! And now they are my political bedfellows because of this particular ballot question coming up, about the C.P.A., or the Community Preservation Act.

Warning, the following paragraph is kind of technical/political/potentially boring

The C.P.A. in a nutshell is legislation by which you raise taxes and get a matching sum from the state. These monies can only be used for affordable housing, open space, and historic preservation. I think affordable housing is very important — in fact, we have to work hard to preserve our middle class in this town or there will be fewer families invested in the public schools — but the C.P.A. is not the way to do it. Here are my problems with the C.P.A.: no accountability, endangering rather than helping affordable housing projects, little or no money for the schools, and you ruin your chances for a tax increase for the schools.

There is very little accountability with the C.P.A., in that a committee is appointed who decides on the projects the funds get spent on (not officials elected to that end), and there is no guarantee that so-called affordable but “historically important” buildings will not be taken off the market and deemed historic, thereby taking them out of the running as affordable buildings. Also, even if a school building is deemed historic, there is no way to get educational programming paid for with the C.P.A.; only aesthetic aspects are covered under historic preservation. And finally, if you go to the community for a tax increase for the C.P.A., you spoil your chances of going back to the community for a tax increase for the schools, which is what we really need. How many people can afford not one, but two real estate tax increases in a short period of time?

Wake up! I’m finished. Needless to say, I am really bent out of shape over this, but so many of my Liberal friends are really into the C.P.A.! So I have to fight against them by joining the Dark Side. That’s why I wore black to the meeting. That, and it looked good on me.

So, as I was saying, the nighttime’s events made me feel much better. Nothing like sinking your teeth into a good local political issue and hanging out with new friends (I enjoyed a lot of the people there, plus some old friends from the School Committee). Got home, had some fun with Ned, and went to bed, exhaust-ed.

Today, sunny and hot. The weather was, too! I bounced out of bed and knew I’d be okay today no matter what. I took a long bike ride (had to be very careful now that everyone’s back and traffic is up to its formidable Boston standard) and blew off physical therapy, opting instead to do a good job on stretching and icing. Then I I.M.’ed Ned and asked him out to lunch. He agreed! He rarely wants to take time off from work to go to lunch with me, but I love going out to lunch! And I’m a cheap lunch date: always a salad girl. So what’s the deal with him? It’s that damned laptop that has him bewitched.

I worked hard on my hair and put on a fetching purple sleeveless top and rolled up capri pants. I always dress up for my dates with Ned. Why should twenty-something years change anything? I always want to be attractive to him. I hate it when he catches me putting on eye makeup and says, “Aha! I’m learning your little secrets.” Those are part of my feminine wiles and they are mine. How else can I combat Madame Laptop?

Ned suggested we get salads and sit outside, which we did; surprisingly delicious from a salad bar in the Whole Foods. We sat in a park in Cambridge and talked about my next book project and the boys. We have a new/old behaviorist coming to the house today. She actually worked with Nat years ago when he was having his horrible time (see book, chapter 8 where baby Ben and I are attacked by Nat on subway). I tracked her down! I will pay almost anything to get a great person to work with Nat. I am starting to fantasize about my oldest dream, which is to homeschool Nat with a really great teacher. I don’t know how I’d pay for it, but that’s what I’d do. Imagine the flexibility!

So, the thing is, the point of this post is: there’s always tomorrow, for dreams to come true, as Clarice said. I leave it to you to figure out where that’s from.