trish hermanson - Home

Clearing the Tangle Out of My Life

9/25/2020

Marie Kondo, the professional declutterer, would smile about all the clearing out I’ve accomplished since Covid has kept me homebound more than usual.
     It started with our chopping down two arborvitae trees in our yard that died. After that I trimmed dead branches deep in an eight-foot-tall shrub; pruned scruffy undergrowth in a thirty-foot-tall blue spruce; and lobbed off thorny limbs from a Russian olive tree that threatened to reach out and grab me.
     Then I moved indoors, culling shelves of books I’ve never read and never will (sorry, you bibliophiles); tossing decades of paperwork (sorry, you archivists); clearing out bric-a-brac (sorry, you sentimentalists); and donating clothes I never wear (you’re welcome, you fashionistas).
     Someday my kids will thank me.
     Everything looks cleaner. And what’s left “sparks joy” in me, as Kondo says our environment should. But I wonder if there’s more going on. Perhaps I’m clearing out the tangle in my life to make room for new growth.
     Because if my surroundings are cluttered, my mind and soul are, too.

Why Steer Clear of Purple Cows

9/17/2020

Some humor as we step around the dung that’s slung during election season:

My mama taught a little rhyme when I was just a yearling.
She had a beef with purple cows: “Beware of them, my dearling.

I never saw a purple cow, I never hope to see one.
But I can tell you anyhow I’d rather see than be one.”

But then one day a steer appeared so luminescent bright.
And I believed that he was here to give me new insight.

I got behind this champion, so wise and strong and tough.
My heart he charmed, my vote he won, with all his righteous stuff.

I thought he’d open wide my eyes to things I did not know.
Then bovine bright, to my surprise, gored me with a blow.

His words turned out to be pure bull. I’d trusted every lie.
And all the promises he made were nothing but cow pie.

So in these days when doo-doo flies from both the left and right
I’ll try to keep my head up high and stay above the fight.

And thank you, Mom, from head to tail for warning me when young,
For purple cows do cross my trail. I’ll side-step purple dung.

Who's Gonna Save Us?

9/11/2020

l long for someone to save America from violence, the pandemic, and economic turmoil. I long for someone who is “larger than life” to rescue us, as Bonnie Tyler sang in “Holding Out for a Hero,” an anthem that has echoed through our culture for more than three decades.
My yearning for a political messiah seems inherent across the political spectrum, whether we’re left, middle, or right. We want someone to ride in on a white horse and save us.
     But when I place my hope in a politician or a political party, am I committing a modern form of idol worship? Have I forgotten our national motto: “In GOD We Trust”?
     It’s crazy when I search for a superhero because no person, party, or platform can ultimately rescue America. Commentator Cal Thomas says, “…revival of the American spirit won’t come through politics and politicians…. America’s central problems are not economic and political; they are moral and spiritual.”
     So what can I do? For my soul’s sake, I can ask my Creator to revive me. For my country’s sake, I can look beyond campaign rhetoric and vote for who I hope will best preserve our Constitution and our shaky union.      Bonnie Tyler’s original music video is overwrought with her plea to save her from a burning house. Our national house is on fire today. Perhaps our faith in a candidate is just as overwrought. Who’s gonna save us? Neither. Rescue begins at the individual level.
     ***
      Artwork: GoGraph.

Anyone Else Befuddled by Today's English?

9/3/2020

Are you as befuddled as I am when you read the news? My head spins whenever I succumb to doom scrolling (endlessly reading online news ) during this corona coaster (roller-coaster pandemic). I’m not a Karen (an entitled, obnoxious, angry, or racist middle-aged white woman trying to get my way). If you don’t think I’m woke (aware of social and racial justice), are you going to cancel me (treat me as persona non grata)? I don’t understand QAnon (a far-right conspiracy that believes that Q, an anonymous leader, is gradually exposing a deep state plot against the President). Has anyone doxed this group (published internet research on this group)?
Is your political party dog whistling me (using attractive code words to gain my support)? Is the political contribution you want me to make a grift (a small-scale swindle)? Are you gaslighting me (causing me to question my sanity and sense of reality)? Have I become a covidiot (one who doesn’t properly wash hands, social distance, and wear a mask)? It’s all too confusing! Perhaps for the rest of this Coronageddon (covid catastrophe) I’ll hide out in my basement and pour myself a quarantini (a martini during quarantine).

Meet the 'Late Bloomer'

8/27/2020

Compared to other plants, this is a late bloomer. This agave americana was a squatty thing for several decades before it suddenly shot up and burst into outrageous yellow flowers. But it doesn’t blossom until its internal resources tell it to, which is good news for those of us who feel like we’re still squatty plants while our peers have shot ahead of us.
     Most of us don’t really “take off” until the second half of our lives because our intelligence doesn’t fully develop until we reach our thirties to fifties, says author Rick Karlgaard. That seems to be true with our skills, too. Take, for instance, actor Morgan Freeman, who didn’t achieve name recognition until his early fifties and he’s still going strong in his eighties. Or Abraham Lincoln, who had more failures than successes until he was elected president in his early fifties. Or Julia Child, a failed author until she co-published her book on French cooking when she was forty-nine.
     Karlgaard, who wrote “Late Bloomers: The Power of Patience in a World Obsessed with Early Achievement,” says flourishing “is all about finding that perfect intersection of your deepest talents and your deepest passions.” This can happen multiple times in our lives because we live longer these days.
     That’s been true for me: one metamorphosis after another as I dared to allow my God-given passions mingle with talents I worked to develop.
  What about you? What passion do you want to develop?