“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.”

Robert Frost

I actually pre-wrote my blog for the first time yesterday so I could avoid the inevitable dumpster fire of the internet and Facebook as much as possible today, but with some online responses I have seen and a few texts I’ve gotten, I figured I would go ahead and wade in.

The sad part, to me, is that I probably would have been writing this no matter who won, just for a different audience.

The sun will rise today, from the same direction.

It will warm the earth and make plants grow and make us healthy in the same way it always has.

Gravity will keep us firmly on the ground, and I will be surprised if even a single person is flung off into space. If this happens, it may at least provide us a distraction from what is sure to be incessant news coverage and analysis and blaming.

The mountains will still be where they have been for millennia, the ocean will still make waves and give fish a place to live, and the moon will still be above us.

Jupiter will still be out there blocking space debris, and plants will still be here making oxygen for us.

Your family is still your family; your life is still your life.

If you let this election divide you from your friends, this is a great chance to try and make that right.

I’m not blind, and as hard as I try not to be, I am fairly up to date on current events. I read a lot of history and I try to be somewhat well informed in this respect, so I see the scary implications that this carries. I get the fear and the heartbreak and the mistrust this all engenders, but if you look outside your window, the trees are still there and the sky is still blue, even if only up above the clouds where you can’t see it.

Decisions made from fear don’t get us anywhere, and only bring more trouble.

Believing the narrative of division we’ve been soaked in for so long now only makes it real, and helps it grow.

Love your family, love your friends and go out of your way to take care of people you don’t know, especially if they look or believe differently from you.

Don’t give in to hate and fear and isolation and all the things that got us to this exact moment in time.

The grass will still grow, snow will still fall, just breathe. Make a decision from there.

We can get caught up in how bad things are, or we can try to make them better.

Not both.