Presidents’ Day? Just not THIS president

Last year, Pink Slip observed this holiday with a post entitled Let’s Make Presidents’ Day Great Again. That’s my story and I’m pretty much sticking to it, although I do have a couple of updates.

One of my wishes last year was that Paul Ryan exit the scene. He was, of course, third on my list after DJT and Pence, but at least I got one out of three.

This year, I’ll add Mitch McConnell AND Susan Collins to my get out of town list, but that won’t happen until 2020 at the earliest.

And hopefully the lot of them will be gone in one fell swoop. (Or is it full sweep?)

The other update is that, while Trump -  the George Washington antithesis in that he cannot tell the truth – averaged a paltry five lies per day in his first year in office, he managed to triple his output in 2018. Fifteen lies per day on average.

I’m sure that 2019 will be another banner year.

Truly, it’s hard to celebrate a holiday that honors presidents while Trump remains in the office, dishonoring it daily.

And there’s something else, something personal, putting a damper on my jumping for joy today.

Yesterday was the fifth anniversary of the death of my husband, Jim Diggins.

I have a great life.

I have a wonderful family and friends. A lovely home. Interesting work, both paid and volunteer. My health is good. All the “stuff” I could ever want or need (other than a bench for outside my door so I can sit to take my boots off; the stool inside the door just ain’t cutting it).

But something’s missing.

Jim and I used to travel pretty frequently, and I’m still getting around.

Since his death, I’ve made three trips to Ireland, and a few visits to NYC – our two favorites. I’ve been to Dallas a couple of times, to Tucson three times, and once to Chicago. I’ve been to Scotland. This fall I’m going to Iceland.

Jim and I used to take a lot of walks together, and I’m still out there most days.

Since Jim’s death, I’ve gotten a Fitbit and am now averaging 5 miles a day, which is higher than we averaged (other than on weekends, when we’d typically take at least one ‘power walk’, and when we were on vacation).

Jim and I used to go out to eat a lot. To hang around a lot doing nothing. To laugh a lot. To have fun.

I still do all of the above.

Life goes on, and the life I have going on is a damned good one.

But something’s missing. And that’s Diggy.

Five years…Seems like just yesterday. Seems like a million years ago.

Sigh…