Tongue Between Teeth

One of those weeks when my daily schedule alternates with matters of church and of state. Several meetings yesterday. A long hearing today. Meetings again tomorrow.

When I mention my legislative work here, I describe what I did but typically nothihng of my feelings or opinions about what I did, beyond the generic or mundane. I'm learning how divisive and disappointing politics on non-political blogs can be. Even when I do tiptoe (gingerly) into the politcal, I strive to depict it in terms of activity, not ideology.

Ditto for religion.

I happen to hold elective office. What I do under that gleaming gold dome does not and will not define me. I'm a career writer, a voracious reader, a congenital gardener, a naturalist in many senses of the word.

This was a rare Wednesday off, post-Crossover. The House was not in session. And yet I voluntarily spent the entire day--from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.--in Representatives Hall. Yes, I surrendered an entirely free day that might have been spent writing or gardening (or both). Or catching up on myriad authorly or diocesan responsibilities and completing numerous pending registrations with approaching deadlines.

There's been a lot of political activism on view today--4 high profile events at the State House from early morning into the evening. Representing 4 different issues. (The local media focussed on only 2 of them.) I learned a lot about my state, its residents, their concerns and diverging realities and how massively in conflict they can be.

Today I honestly didn't know whether to pity or to envy the people for whom every issue comes pre-coloured in black or white. I've got to admit that lots of the comments that resonated the most with me were from the ones I'll call the "grey-sayers."

I came home to a garden of nodding yellow daffodils and sprouting purple hyacinths.

And now...a few restful hours, re-charging my inner battery here on the sofa with warm, slumbering beasts and my American Idol-obssessed spouse. Followed by a night of--I hope--uninterrupted sleep. And back to the Capitol City tomorrow.