Ashland, southern Oregon — November 11, 2026.
Salutations and greetings to all the military veterans. Here in the US, it’s Veteran’s Day.
It’s a fine fall day, wealthy with sunlight and enough blue sky to convince you that rain isn’t near. It was 61 F as we drove into Medford and fog and 61 fell to the mid fifties.
Yes, we went to Medford to visit a friend in the hospital and then ate breakfast at some restaurant that gave me a free meal as a Veteran’s Day gift.
It’s a challenging world for my friend and her children. Her husband (their father) died on October 17, 2026, after years of medical challenges. When she had her stroke, she told her son that she didn’t want to go to the hospital. What a moral challenge that was for him. He talked her into going to the hospital but now she’s barely responsive, enduring medical treatments with little chance for ‘recovering’. What will life now be like for her?
Day started though with a wealth of texts from my sisters about Mom. Mom is complaining that another resident gets more attention than her. The target of Mom’s ire is in hospice. Mom is like, well, I want to go into hospice, too, and get more attention and help. The sisters then texted at length about hospice, doctor visits, and medications.
After rushing home, I headed out to meet dear friends to have a beer and entertain one another with political commentary and life anecdotes.
Meanwhile, reflecting on the midterms and Trump’s subsequent behavior, we seem to be mesmerized with how the voting was done, who will lead the Dems, and what’s going on with Trump and the GOP. It’s sort of a dead space as Trump slides into a lame duck suit. He’ll resist being a lame duck but could also well predict that he’s the greatest lame duck ever.
I’m circling something here but I’m drifting to the edge. Part of me is mesmerized by how we cope and explain, seeking understanding and certainty even as doubt assails us.
Part of it is also that I had the song “Hypnotized” by Fleetwood Mac in my morning mental music stream. Jill Dennison wrote about the song shared a video, and The Neurons enjoyed it. The song reflects on reality and illusion, hopes and explanations. We’re always looking for a vehicle to take us somewhere.
Hope you had a solid day of humanating. I don’t think that’s a word but it kind of sort of maybe could be chiseled in to fit.
Cheers
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