Ten years ago I said yes to something that almost everyone else would have said no to.  In doing so, I completely changed the course of my life.  Everything I have now can be traced back to that one moment of saying "yes".  I don't usually do the sentimental thing for everyone to read, but this one had such a profound effect on my life that I felt it was worth sharing.


What came immediately after the "yes" was one of the most intensely emotional experiences I've ever had.  It led to my current job.  It involved some heartbreak. It led to me moving to PA and back.  It led to me adopting my dog. It led to me moving to Jacksonville.  It led to my relative financial stability (it's all relative).  It led to my current social circle, the podcast, and my creative re-awakening.


Saying "yes" to this one insane thing taught me more about myself than I think I would have learned on my own.  I know who Linzi is, because of this.  I know what I want out of life and who I want in my life, because of this.  It recalibrated me emotionally.  It offered me perspective.  The first few years were manic.  Up and down.  Love and hate.  So much anger and sadness.  I lost forty pounds.  I gained it back (and then some).  I found that I had courage I didn't know I had.  I walked away and broke my own heart in order to save it.


Hindsight is everything in situations like this.  I look at it now and I don't recognize the woman I was.  Should I have married a man after three weeks?  Likely not.  I could have saved myself an immense amount of grief.  I would have missed out on a lot of love though.  Even though the marriage ended and the grieving was substantial, I also know that I've gained a lifelong friend.  It sounds odd to say it like that, but I believe it to be true.  There's no ill will.  I am confident that if I needed something he would help.  There aren't many people in the world who truly know ME.  It's nice to know that there is a piece of my heart with his name forever etched in it.


I took a leap that turned my stomach in knots.  But I never regretted it.  And even though they aren't in my life as much anymore, I am forever grateful to the person who had the courage to ask the question to which I answered "yes".

Over the last two weeks, like most I have been watching the mayhem unfold online.  I think there are quite a few people like me who are just about sick of all of it.  Things I feel I need to say:

1. Being Liberal or Conservative does not make you ignorant
2. Being Liberal doesn't mean you are a "libtard" (a truly offensive word) or some special "snowflake" who cries when they don't get their way.
3. Being Conservative doesn't mean you're racist or misogynistic.
4. Way too many people have forgotten the Golden Rule about treating others the way you want to be treated.  You may as well throw in the phrase "if you can't say something nice don't say anything at all (this is not a liberal thing, this is literally what we all should have learned growing up).
5. CNN is not fake news.  Fox is not fake news.  What people are confusing is punditry for factual reporting.  Punditry gets viewers, factual reporting does not.

Most of you who know me well, know my opinions on what is going on right now.  I've tried to keep them to myself and off my Facebook page, but y'all are making it really hard. 


Things I still don't understand:

1. Why anyone listens to Tomi Lahren, she's just the friggin worst.
2. Why anyone complains about celebrities voicing their opinions, they are just doing what you're doing when you express your (dis)pleasure over something.  Not to mention the fact that our President was literally a Celebrity before he became President.  Your argument is invalid.
3. Why people "just don't understand" why others are upset.  This applies to both sides of the coin.
4. Why people feel the need to attack each other on FB comment threads instead of attempting to find an actual discourse with each other in an effort to resolve #3.
5. Why people seem to think that all liberals want handouts.

I think that everyone just wants everyone to be taken care of and to able to live their lives peacefully.  To do that though, there is a ton of work to be done on both sides and it starts with not treating each other like crap just because we disagree.  I'm one who is not hopeful that Trump is going to do a good job.  Everything he's done so far has caused genuine worry for me.  If I "have" to respect that you like what he's doing, then you "have" to respect that I think he's nuts.


It would be nice if I didn't end up regretting this post.