Halfway through November

November has been a hard month for me for many years. It took me a long time to figure out why. I didn't know if it was the declining light, the gray skies, or the coming cold. I only knew that I got blue in November. My mother died the November I was six years old. I finally went for help for depression one November some years ago.  This November I spent a few days sleeping. I have been using the Happy Light and I think it helps. It has also been a bit warmer than usual which has been a good thing.

Today, though, was cold and windy. Today was a day I spent outside at a rally and march for We Are The 99%. I have spent some of the greatest hours of my life on a picket line or marching for justice. I have to say, though, that marching in nice weather is much more fun. We met at the U of M and had a couple of speeches and then we marched down 19th Ave to a bridge. At that time I realized they were going to try to occupy the damn bridge. Call and response: Whose bridge? Our bridge. Oh no. Not me. I am all for economic and social justice but getting arrested for a bridge? What good is that? I am thrilled protests are going on and was happy to be part of a nationwide movement, but I was cold and I went home in the early dark of a Minnesota November.

The high point of the month is Thanksgiving. I have always loved Thanksgiving. To me it is the perfect holiday, good food and good company and no presents needed. I especially loved setting the long tables in my Orono home and having eighteen or twenty loved ones enjoying the food I cooked. People would go around the table and say what they were grateful for, or maybe we would sing a grace. It was just such good energy. And after games and the table being put back, I loved the order of my clean house. This year we will gather together and have a great time, but not in my place. This is probably my mother's last Thanksgiving and I hope she has a good time and doesn't get too blue missing the old man.

The month is half over and drama, unemployment, and a thousand year old mother in poor health aside, I am doing pretty well for November.