Holy buckets, Darling Ones,

I did not expect it to feel this good. In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m pretty jaded, bitter, and cynical.* I’m wary of all things that might make my ice robot heart feel hope. However, today I cannot keep the joy out of my bones. I bawled my face off when Vice President Kamala Harris took the oath of office. It was beautiful, moving, and inspiring.

For me, it started right away this morning. I woke up to a violet & pink sunrise and stayed awake to enjoy it. I listened to “Party in the U.S.A.”** at least twelve times before I even got dressed. After breakfast a bunch of the sadness garbage I ordered this weekend arrived. I’m not saying capitalism is going to fill the hole in your soul, but I got Wendell a shark bed and my soul might be glowing a little from the sheer cuteness. I don’t mean to be cliche spinster cat lady, but I’m a little obsessed and have taken exactly 703 pictures of him with the shark.

Other than that I’ve been literally dancing around Supergenius HQ all day. I danced through putting groceries away and eating Potato Oles for lunch. I’m kinda dancing here on the couch while intermittently typing this post and texting my niece pictures of Wendell & the shark.

This evening I plan to eat a celebratory frozen pizza while continuing to be way too emotionally invested in “Nashville” (Juliette is joining a cult!) and working on a new blanket. I know how to party.

Please don’t rain my parade. I know we, as a country, have a long way to go. I know Joe Biden as president does not magically erase all the harm done in the past four years. I know it doesn’t do anything to fix the fact that we’re still a white supremacist nation losing the battle against a pandemic during the waning reign of late-stage capitalism. I know I’ll be disappointed and angry again soon enough because nobody who can get elected will be progressive enough for me.

But today, I will shuck off the anxiety and stress, the loneliness and sadness that plagues me during the pandemic and I will dance around my house and smile (mostly at the gianormous Joan Jett art I got with the other sadness garbage).

It feels really good to be optimistic and hopeful for one damn day.

Jodi
 
*because I’m putting aside my bitterness I’m saving you my rant about Bernie Sanders and our continued fetishization of white male mediocrity. YOU ARE WELCOME.
 
**I legit love this song because it’s great and also it reminds me of my friend Steve. There was a month when we were obsessed with the sign language version of the video. Like super obsessed, and this woman who was in our writing group (pre-Black Sheep) got really upset because she kept asking if we loved it ironically, and when we would say, “No we just love it because it is rad.” She would say she didn’t understand and we must love it ironically. I told her I didn’t know how to love things ironically. This was one of our last meetings with her before she went off on Steve for reasons I cannot remember and me because she didn’t think I “liked her enough,” which is apparently a thing I do a lot (exhibit A and exhibit B).