​Dearest Reader,

Unfortunately, an already very shallow dating pool has been split in half.  We now have a left end and a right end and our ideas are the rope floats keeping us apart.  Websites are popping up all over, catering to this new polarization.  On your right, you have TrumpSingles.com displaying a very upwardly mobile attractive couple out for an elegant evening.  On the left, you have Maple Match catering to liberal U.S. citizens who, as a result of the election, are ready to exit the country.

So, the big question is: Can a pink beanie and a red baseball cap ever live happily ever after?

According to Grindstone, there are some political unicorn couples out there.  You have Mary Matalin, a Republican political consultant, and James Carville, a Democratic commentator.  Their diametrically opposing views seem to fuel the passion and perhaps their disagreements are a form of foreplay. 

They are not unprecedented.  Although, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt had 6 children, their marriage definitely had its rocky moments.  During FDR’s presidency, Mrs. Roosevelt wrote This Troubled World, a book directly opposing many of her husband’s ideas.

There are other presidential examples as well.   After the very conservative George W. Bush exited his presidency, his former first lady Laura Bush, proclaimed she was pro-choice and supported same-sex marriage, in direct opposition to her husband’s beliefs.

All three couples have differing values and opinions but managed to keep their marriages together.  Of course,  I suspect with very different levels of success.  So, maybe it works and maybe it does not work but they do offer hope.  If they can come together, compromise, and make their relationships work, shouldn’t our country, with all its collective resources, be able to do the same?

XO M.J.
​

Dearest Reader,

I think we all need a little humor.  These slogans were seen on Inaugeration Day and at the Women's March on Washington.  (There are fewer pro-Trump slogans because he won.):

• Girls just want fun-damental rights.
• Trump 2016  Hell toupee.
• You're so vain, you probably think this March is about you.
• We shall overcomb.
• Donald, you ignorant slut.
• I did not say I would build a wall, I said I would build a mall.
• I've seen better cabinets at IKEA.
• Deplorable lives matter.
• Free Melania!

I hope they make you laugh.

XO M.J.

Dearest Reader,

In thinking about our country and its place in the world in the future, I created the following slideshow.

With much love,
M.J. Minerman