I'll Call It Like I See It

by sheila morris

Category: family life

  • Pop Quiz: who won?

    Pop Quiz: who won?


    In 1968 at twenty-two years of age I voted in my first presidential election, the beginning of fifteen presidential elections over the next fifty-six years. I was living in Seattle, Washington, and had been diligent to change my voter registration from my previous address in Houston, Texas, to my new home in Seattle. Politics was always a prominent conversation in my family who preached to me about the difference between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party from the time I was a young child. In an effort to impress upon me the importance of my vote, my paternal grandfather Pa whom I adored and thought he surely walked on water, had told me before the November election to remember the “Democrats are for the people, and the Republicans are for themselves.” Naturally I voted for the Republican candidates Richard Nixon for President and Spiro Agnew for Vice President.

    I made the mistake of telling my dad about my vote, and he was horrified. My entire family considered me a political pariah when Daddy announced my defection at Christmas. As my second presidential election came around in 1972, I began to wish I could take that 1968 vote back, but there it would be forever in infamy – much like the forever infamy of the men I had supported (not counting Elvis).

    Therefore, in 1972, I voted for Democratic candidates George McGovern for President and Sargent Shriver for VP. You may not recall these guys because they lost to the incumbents Nixon and Agnew in a red wave that swept the nation. Of course, my dad blamed me for the entire Agnew tax evasion scandal that led to his resignation as VP in 1973 and the Nixon Watergate debacle that led to his exit in 1974. My grandfather couldn’t bring himself to talk about his woe-is-me version of the political landscape at the time. I was off to a shaky start with my voting record.

    Here’s the Pop Quiz FUN for Pre-Halloween, Pre-Election Teasers. I will give you the election year and tell you who I voted for. I want you to tell me whether my candidates won or lost? Name their opponents!

    1976 I voted for Democratic candidates Jimmy Carter for President and Walter Mondale for VP. Was that a Win or a Loss? Who did they run against?

    1980 I voted for Democratic incumbents Jimmy Carter for President and Walter Mondale for VP. Was that a Win or a Loss? Who did they run against?

    1984 I voted for Democratic candidates Walter Mondale for President and Geraldine Ferraro for VP. Was that a Win or a Loss? Who did they run against?

    1988 I voted for Democratic candidates Michael Dukakis for President and Lloyd Bentsen for VP. Was that a Win or a Loss for me? Who did they run against?

    1992 I voted for Democratic candidates William J. Clinton for President and Albert Gore, Jr. for VP. Was that a Win or a Loss for me? Who did they run against?

    1996 I voted for Democratic incumbents William J. Clinton for President and Albert Gore, Jr. for VP. Was that a Win or a Loss for me? Who did they run against?

    2000 I voted for Democratic candidates Albert Gore, Jr. for President and Joseph Lieberman for VP. Was that a Win or a Loss for me? Who did they run against?

    2004 I voted for Democratic candidate John Kerry for President and John Edwards for VP. Was that a Win or a Loss for me? Who did they run against?

    2008 I voted for Democratic candidate Barack Obama for President and Joe Biden for VP. Was that a Win or a Loss for me? Who did they run against?

    2012 I voted for Democratic incumbents Barack Obama for President and Joe Biden for VP. Was that a Win or a Loss for me? Who did they run against?

    2016 I voted for Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton for President and Tim Kaine for VP. Was that a Win or a Loss for me? Who did they run against?

    2020 I voted for Democratic candidates Joe Biden for President and Kamala Harris for VP. Was that a Win or a Loss for me? Who did they run against?

    Today I voted for Democratic candidates Kamala Harris for President and Tim Walz for VP. A former Republican President (spoiler alert) was running against them for President with Senator JD Vance the Veep on the Republican ticket. Stay tuned for the results which will be determined in the next few weeks.

    My feelings about the 2024 election results are currently 50-50 and are not skewed by polls, pundits, predictors, or pandemonium. If you kept score of my record, you will see that I have seven wins and seven losses. When I tallied my historical voting record, I was struck by the irony of having a tie for wins and losses over 56 years. What are the odds? I’d guess 50-50.

    I’m interested in your historical voting scores?

    https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/elections/1972

    This link can answer any burning questions you may have about the answers.

    But more importantly, make a plan to VOTE.

  • Hurricane Helene, Israel v Iran, lives well lived, first and 10 for Coach Walz tonight – and one special birthday

    Hurricane Helene, Israel v Iran, lives well lived, first and 10 for Coach Walz tonight – and one special birthday


    Headlines scary for high stakes happenings in the past week – my head is rotating at warp speeds that add well-defined layers to my general free-floating anxiety. Missiles in the Middle East, final sounds of a Sunday morning going down for British actor Maggie Smith and Texas songwriter/actor Kris Kristofferson, Hurricane Helene ravaging the states in the Southeastern section of the United States, a Veep debate tonight between a high school teacher/coach who became governor of Minnesota and a venture capitalist fiction writer who became a senator from Ohio. The mind races to absorb the twists and turns of a world gone mad in many ways to this nonfiction writer who actually voted for a President Jimmy Carter in 1976, a man who celebrates his 100th birthday today.

    But yesterday Pretty and I took a break from the troubles of Hurricane Helene which miraculously left us safe and relatively sound to spend the day with our granddaughter Ella who didn’t have school because the school had no power, her home had no power, but her grandmothers’ home was loaded with fun and power. How old will you be tomorrow, my darling girl? I’ll be 5, Naynay!

    All pool toys had been put up over the weekend, but Ella couldn’t wait for next year to christen the new pool liner so…out she and her Nana came for an afternoon fling on her birthday eve.

    Ella always brings the joy when she visits, and yesterday was icing on the “pretend” birthday cake. She and her Nana had fun with fashion shows, body paintings, gathering acorns while they might from our gigantic oak tree that withstood the winds of Hurricane Helene but mostly they both celebrated their love of the swimming pool. Brrrr is all I can say.

    I was thrilled when Ella finally allowed me for the first time in her five years to completely read a book that she chose. She loved it so much she asked me to read it again. The book? 101 Dalmatians.

    Soon she will be reading it to me. I can’t wait!

    Happy Birthday, Ella – your Nana and I love you to the moon and back.

  • Hey, Molly – Hey, what? Wanna play hooky?

    Hey, Molly – Hey, what? Wanna play hooky?


    Ask yourself. What would you rather do? Stew over 55 days remaining until Election Day in the US on November 5th., worry over wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, angst over California wildfires and Hurricane Francine, watch a Davis Cup tennis match between Spain and Czechia, write a blog post – OR would you rather play hooky with your 2-year-old granddaughter Molly and go to the zoo?!

    Molly and her Neena play in the best and biggest sand box

    I’m gonna catch you, Neena!

    Neena, you not a dinosaur!

    Neena and Molly take a breather after their wild escapades together

    Meanwhile, Naynay and Molly play a different game on the wide open spaces of grass at the zoo playground.

    I can do it by myself

    Naynay, don’t touch

    be careful, Naynay

    just before a gigantic fall

    Huge kudos to Pretty for service above and beyond during our zoo trip for carrying Molly all afternoon from one fun exhibit to another because Molly (who weighs 33 pounds) refused to walk for some strange reason known only to herself, asking for a stroller instead when we entered at the back gate. Pretty’s arthritic knee was killing her, but she soldiered on. I played the old age card whenever Molly reached for me, but Pretty and I both bemoaned not being able to find a stroller at the back entrance of the zoo when we came in.

    On the way out of the zoo while Pretty went to get the car to come pick up Molly and me, Molly flew to sit down in a stroller she must have spotted when we came in and was trying to tell us about it. Sigh. Double sigh.

    We also forgot to take water, apple juice, snacks, and anything else of importance. We had focused entirely on remembering our zoo membership card which was evidently our collective brains’ capacity.

    Let the good times roll. Happy National Grandparents Day!

  • Texas Spike, Carolina Charly and the new pool liner

    Texas Spike, Carolina Charly and the new pool liner


    Spike came to us on Worsham Street in Texas courtesy of neighbors Dana, Carol, Becky and Lisa who found him cowering in the street, managed to get him into our front yard with an original plan to find his owner, and luckily for us became a part of our family since that rescue in 2012. We had four other dogs back then, but Spike settled into the pack without struggles or discord. Pretty and I wonder together sometimes how in the world we had five dogs at once, but usually three of them stayed with me in Texas and two stayed with Pretty in South Carolina until we sold the Worsham Street home in 2014. Everyone hunkered down together then at Casa de Canterbury, selected their own best buddies in the pack, and mourned later losses as they went down the valley one by one.

    Old Man Spike slower but maintains patrol duties

    Charly was saved from a kill shelter in Columbia by Pawmetto Lifeline in the spring of 2016, turned in by owners not interested in trying to take care of her and her seven puppies. When we decided we needed another dog to keep Spike company (he was the last survivor of our five and did not like being the only dog), we went to Pawmetto Lifeline and were told all of her puppies had been adopted but she wasn’t. We took her home that day – I wouldn’t know how to act without her staying stuck to my side like glue 24/7. We think she’s probably 10 years old, still feisty, still barking at anyone who dares to come for a visit.

    Finally, for everyone who asked about our new swimming pool liner (fewer than I can count on two hands), we are pleased to announce the pool has been restored, renewed and ready for swims in two days.

    where did summer go?

    *************

    Two students and two teachers were killed yesterday in a high school in Winder, Georgia with eight more students hospitalized. Words like senseless, tragic, mind-numbing pain, sorrow mix with anger, futility, anger, frustration, anger, and fear in a battle of jumbled thoughts in my mind. None of the words adequately describe my feelings when I saw the 14-year-old alleged killer and his father this morning in court. A child who studied mass school shootings? Neither do I have adequate words for the families and friends of the deceased who sat in the courtroom to confront them. The unimaginable became the unthinkable.

  • Hallelujah, Hope is Making a Comeback!

    Hallelujah, Hope is Making a Comeback!


    Thanks to former First Lady Michelle Obama for reminding me at the Democratic National Convention this week of our mutual feelings sixteen years ago when a young Senator from Illinois, her husband Barack Obama, was nominated to become President of the United States. President Obama became the champion of “hope” in my mind forever because he believed in the possibility of positive change in a nation I sensed we both loved. I’ve missed them both.

    We choose hope over fear. We see the future not as something out of our control, but as something we can shape for the better through concerted and collective effort. We reject fatalism or cynicism when it comes to human affairs; we choose to work for the world as it should be, as our children deserve it to be. (President Obama to the United Nations General Assembly, September 24, 2014)

    four-year-old Ella on board the Harris/Walz JOY Campaign Train in playhouse at the zoo yesterday while two-year-old Molly hoped for height

    My hope is we will choose to work together for the world as it should be, as all children deserve it to be.

    Onward.