Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
July 23, 2020
By Pat Edwards
Happy summer everyone! Has it been hot enough for you? For me, the 70s are perfect; the low- to even mid-80s are bearable; but once the thermometer passes over that 90 mark, I tend to hibernate in the air-conditioned house, if possible.
Consequently, I water flowers and Jim does the lawn mowing in the early mornings or late evenings. We expect that more and more restrictions will be put on the use of power equipment as the temperature soars and the vegetation dries out so we’re trying to stay ahead of the game while we can.
With the Covid-19 guidelines in place, we try to spend as much time at home as possible, but we still have a store to run for now, and trips to town two or three times a week are inevitable. Like so many others, we are doing everything we can to socially distance ourselves when out in public, and we are very strong supporters of wearing masks when we shop, go into the bank or have lunch at responsible local restaurants. I’ve embarrassed myself a few times by being distracted as I get out of the car and have found myself walking through the front door of a business only to realize that I forgot to don my mask. I apologize profusely as I run back out to the car with my arm or hands over my face. Jim always seems to remember to put his on, but I haven’t trained him yet to remind me when I forget.
We try to limit our social activities to family, but there have been a couple of occasions in the recent past that we have felt the need to attend a funeral and a wedding. Fortunately, the funeral was held in a church that had an anteroom where we were able to view and hear it on monitors while keeping our distance in a much smaller group.
At the outdoor wedding, Jim and I were among the three who wore masks out of over 100 guests, but we were able to sit about 20 feet away from the gathering and still see the beautiful ceremony as the happy couple were united. We left right afterwards after congratulating the mother of the bride. It was not an easy situation for us. We did not want to appear anti-social—some of those in attendance are our good friends and neighbors. We wanted to celebrate with them, but not at the expense of our health or that of others. Many of them who may have noticed our discomfort would be surprised to know that I vote in the same primaries that they do.
My voter registration has been the same for well over 50 years, but that’s just on paper and I have never claimed to be a voting member of that party. I don’t want to be told how to vote… or think… or act… by any “group.” I vote from my heart and determine with my own intellect, experience, research and moral code what feels right. Nothing feels right these days. I don’t feel that I belong to either major political party… in fact, I don’t feel that I have been represented by either for a long time. The extreme ends of both parties scare the livin’ daylights out of me.
I love my country and all that it stands for. Like each one of us, it is far from perfect. Its history is not perfect; nor is its present. We are a nation of contrasts—in race, ethnicity, religious and political beliefs, education, lifestyle and so much more—and those qualities, welded together, are what have made it strong and respected throughout the world. If we allow cracks to form and widen as they are now, we are weakened. We all need to work to mend those cracks—to reach out to each other while we still can.
May God Bless America!
All Things Lorane 