For openers, here’s my take on the election story. Charles Dudley Warner once said, “Politics makes strange bedfellows.” Meaning: Political interests bring together people who otherwise have little or nothing in common.

 

I have no argument. But first I want to rinse my mouth. Don’t you?

 

Trivia: The American essayist adapted the saying from a line in Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”: “Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.” Google says it was spoken by a man who was shipwrecked and found himself seeking shelter beside a sleeping monster. Shudder.

 

My dog story

 

I have never been a “pet person.” I never liked dogs. I still don’t like cats.

 

When we lived in Hawaii, my children begged for a dog. I relented. We went to a dog pound and, after paying $11, went home with a cute honey-colored mixed breed. Later that day a visit to the vet set our budget back by almost $200.

 

We called him “Hapa,” short for Hapa Haole, which in Hawaiian means half-breed or of mixed blood.

 

The children promised to clean up after Hapa, feed and bathe him. And they did all that for the first week or two. Then we heard: “It’s not my turn to clean up the poop.” My own relationship with Hapa was screaming (me) and growling (Hapa) every time we met.

 

Soon our lanai by the marina was a mess. I was not happy. Thank God for Pam, our tall, sweet, unforgettable in-house haole with a Hawaiian/Pinoy heart. I call her my seventh child. Quietly she took charge. So the dog stayed.

 

But one afternoon while we were out, someone must have “adopted” Hapa. The children were distraught and searched all over Kuapa Isle. No sign of Hapa. He never came back. I felt bad for the kids. But I had a clean lanai. Sigh.

 

Many years later I met Sneaker. It was love at first sight with my daughter’s chocolate brown Labrador. And now, there’s Mochi, a gorgeous yellow Lab. Every day, Mochi comes to my casita and sprawls at my feet as I write, and I love it. She is warm, fuzzy and faithful. One is never too old to learn.

 

A safe place

 

I went to a sixth-grade graduation. The Bridge School is not very big. There were only seven graduates, one of them my great grandson.

 

I got emotional when they played “Pomp and Circumstance” and he marched in, wearing his dark blue toga, cap and tassel worn at a rakish angle, looking all ready for the “big time.”

 

Pastor Woolim Ma was keynote speaker. Inspiring! His message: Be brave and be true to yourselves. One graduate spoke about becoming agents of change.

 

The principal, a young woman very close to my heart, spoke next. She asked the parents: “Do you have a safe place for your children?”

 

She explained. “A safe place is where your children can come and ask you anything, express their feelings without guilt or fear of judgment, ridicule or punishment, confident that you will listen and help them find answers. It is where parents are in charge, committed, and where their children are assured of encouragement and understanding.”

 

The parents listened. And I mopped my tears while I got a crash course in Parenting 101, this late in the day.

 

Beautiful poem

 

The program ended with the children reciting “Desiderata” by Max Ehrmann. It is such a beautiful poem, one I believe we must revisit, at whatever age or stage in our lives.

 

Here it is.

 

“Go placidly amid the noise and haste,

And remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,

Be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly,

And listen to others,

Even the dull and the ignorant;

They too have their story.

 

Avoid loud and aggressive persons.

They are vexations to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,

You may become vain and bitter,

For always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

 

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;

It is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs;

For the world is full of trickery.

But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;

Many persons strive for high ideals,

And everywhere life is full of heroism.

 

Be yourself.

Especially do not feign affection.

Neither be cynical about love

For in the face of all aridity and disenchantment

It is as perennial as the grass.

 

Take kindly the counsel of the years,

Gracefully surrendering the things of youth,

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.

But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings

Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,

Be gentle with yourself.

 

You are a child of the universe,

No less than the trees and the stars

You have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you,

No doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

 

Therefore be at peace with God

Whatever you conceive Him to be

And whatever your labors and aspirations,

In the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul.

 

With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams,

It is still a beautiful world.

Be cheerful.

Strive to be happy.”

 

“Desiderata” means things needed or desired.