Is This How It All Ends?

I’m quite accustomed to the new normal being anything but. Yet this morning has pushed it to an extreme just beyond my capacity to accept. 

 

It is 10am in the morning and dark outside. I mean as dark as at 5:00 in the morning or 10:00 at night. Every light in the house is on. The blue-jay in the tree is squawking as if “WTF?” and I’m right there with him. I have never experienced anything like this in all my born days. And there have been a lot of those born days.

 

The rational explanation is the dense smoke from California fires, even though the Air Quality Index in San Francisco is quite low. However, there is a light rain of fine ash that one can see under the deck lights. So instead of assuming it’s the Rapture, I can somewhat understand the explanation.

 

But the next sign that the world is ending, the one the blue jay doesn’t have to think about, is my AOL news with a headline that drives the nail into the coffin of the last remaining shred of sanity in the world as we have known it:

 

DONALD TRUMP NOMINATED FOR NOBEL PEACE PRIZE.

 

Yes, folks, this was not The Onion’s satirical headline. This was (theoretically) legitimate news. I simply couldn’t bear to read any more. This is four light years beyond any slice of comprehension I can muster.

 

And so I wonder if I should be calling all my friends and family and thanking them for the life we have shared and bidding them goodbye. And just in case I don’t do it in time, I’ll say it now:

 

It’s been a wild ride and I’m grateful for every moment of it. And every moment shared with each of you. Hope there is a parallel universes where we can meet again, where no Republicans are present. I love you all.