Hold the Microphone, Sugar Friday Round-Up

The director of Homeland Security threatened to arrest our governor but other than that, not much is happening. Of all the marvels of this new administration, the startling lack of decorum stands out. No one seems able to make a veiled threat or speak with any degree of nuance whatever. There’s no side eye capability, no speechifying prowess, no superior organizing capability. In a world where each of us wants to be the smartest, most articulate person in the room, the administration’s sergeants have opted out of the competition. ‘To hell with being smart and articulate, I got a new chainsaw.‘

Remember when you were a kid and when you got home from school you were supposed to take your school clothes off and put on your play clothes? I still do that. Of course, in our day, we were taking off dresses and skirts and whatnot so we could put on our dungarees. Now, I am taking off my dress jeans to put on my home jeans. And then there’s the whole bra debarkation moment that one starts thinking about around noon for a five o’clock landing.

I’m retired so I’m not really working. Except some weeks, I am working pretty hard. The gift of age has brought with it the gift of leadership. I told a group of older adults starting a senior leadership class that, in the past few years, I have been growing into being a leader. Not a behind the scenes leader, but an out in front leader. This isn’t a metamorphosis, like I’ve been cocooned up waiting for my little butterfly moment. It’s building muscle where it didn’t exist before. And it’s pretty cool to experience. Like I told the folks today, ‘People might think you’re done. But you’re not done. We’re not done.’

I enjoyed so much watching a colleague reach down to the bottom of her dress pants and pull out a sock that had gotten stuck there. She swiftly put it in her pocket. It could’ve been something else, I winked, and we laughed. I was reminded of a former boss who, at a very high-level meeting at the White House many years ago reached into his pocket to grab his ubiquitous handkerchief to blow his nose and instead pulled out a bunched up black sock that he had inexplicable stowed there the night before. I adore screw-ups like that. I have a list of my own that goes back decades but I’m saving it for a book or a new board game.

In other news, the cat brought this roll of toilet paper into my office. I didn’t actually see him do it but I know where the toilet paper was and where it is now and there are no other suspects. Swirl would have eaten it. Tempest would have shredded it. Only Herc would have gently batted it from side to side the ten or fifteen feet or so from the bathroom next door. Plus, there are his little claw prints on the side. I think it’s an amazing feat for a cat and he should get some huzzahs from the audience.