The World's Gone to Hell In a Handbasket!!!! ~ Something Isn't Right

I suppose the best way to start this blog is to explain the who, what, where, why and WHAT???  I am a wife, a mom and a granny (all in one package) living in small town Texas USA.  Life down in these parts is pretty relaxed compared to other places I guess.  It's definitely not a big city, but there are 3 of those close enough by.  I really can't complain about the weather here.  Its currently in the 70's and 80's and if you like it a bit cooler than that, stick around a day or two and you might need a light jacket.  The economy here is stable with most people having jobs and new structures are being built like crazy.  We are considered to be in the top 5 for the cheapest places to live so that could be a reason for the growth.  My family consists of my husband Jim, son Kyle, his fiance' Christine (with child) and our 3 spoiled rotten dogs.  Jim is retired from the Army after 20+ years, I am a real estate agent (when I work) and the kids are full time college students with part time jobs.  We live in a house outside of town on an acre of land with exotic animals in our backyard (neighbors), a lake about a mile down the road and our current scenery consists of fields of bluebonnets.  I love spring time in Texas!  We are your average small town family USA.  Sounds pretty wonderful huh?  So you might be asking why the harsh blog title?  Well, lets get started...

The last few years or so, I have noticed that people in general are starting to act very strange.  On the road, people are either on their cell phones, dazed and confused in their own selfish world or are driving like a mad man insanely trying to run you off the road.  There is no in between folks.  Have you noticed this?  Also, in Walmart (yes I know you go there too) people will run you over with their carts in a race to get in front of you just to stop suddenly OR to be the first at the beans OR to beat you to the checkout.  Oh, don't even get my started with the checkout clerks.  Where did they hire these people and what planet did they come from?  They are SOOOOO SLOW, no talk and no facial expressions!  Anyway, grocery shopping had literally become a stressful event for me and I would just keep my head faced forward, check off my list as I push the cart quickly through the isles and then go to self checkout.  All of this to avoid having to deal with people.  Oh, and my family knows the rules; "in and out as quick as possible"!  I mean this is crazy yall!  I am an extrovert so I have to be around people and it had come down to this sad reality for me.  I don't like people anymore.  How could this be?  This really started taking a toll on me, even at my work.  I started feeling like I was the odd man out.  I really just didn't fit in anymore and fell into a depressive state.  Just a suggestion here;  if you have an extrovert in your family and they start secluding themselves from people, you know something is wrong.  This attitude of mine had overwhelmed me to the point of losing some friends and it had also taken a toll on my own family relationships.  I mean, when it rains it pours! 

At this low point, it was definately time to self evaluate and make some changes.  In order to solve a problem, you must first figure out the root of the problem.  So, is it a typical life issue or is it something deeper than that?  In a typical American family, one usually has their mind on money, food, housing, job and a vehicle for transportation. This typical family in America will gage success by their career, their salary and their car.  Sadly, family and friends come after that to most people.  We call it "keeping up with the Joneses" or "living beyond our means".  And people in America are stressing out to the max because of this flaw in their thinking.  My family however, is not like that and I am very grateful for this.  We gage success by family relationships, friendships, education and making a difference in other peoples lives.  If it doesn't involve those four things, it ain't happening!  Family comes first with me and being a good teaching parent for my son and all kids in my life is extremely important.  So, all of these things I gage my success by were suffering because of my attitude.   Reality check in progress!

Its human nature to find someone else at fault, right?  No, its not supposed to be.  But our society and culture has changed in that regard and people do not take personal responsibility anymore.  People are defensive and play tag your it.  I on the otherhand go to the extremes of excepting OTHERS responsibilities in order to make them feel better.  This is a self destructing character flaw of mine.  Moving on.....So, the first thing I did was go to the doctor to see if I was nuts.  Dr. said, "the real nuts never make it through my door".  Oh, OK, check!  So, give me a happy pill please?  Dr. said, "sure, everyone else is on them".  Cool beans, check!  After a short few days of taking them, I started to feel much better and my brain starts to fire back up again. God help us all! By this time its August, 2012 and Jim and I take off to Las Vegas Nevada for the weekend.  We had been together for 5 years and decided it was time to get married, so why not do it in Vegas?  We had a wonderful memorable time indeed and I have to say I am the luckiest woman alive to have him as my husband.  Ok, so we were walking the hotels checking out people and stuff, and were shocked at how different people are and how crazy sin city is.  We were definately out of place I have to say.  I guess we are sheltered more than I thought.  First, we don't watch television unless its the weather channel or a movie.  Second, we don't drink alcohol anymore because we both suffer from migranes.  Third, we rarely go out to eat at restaurants unless its take out.  So, we are both home bodies and we find ourselves away from home in this strange place called sin city.  WHAT??  Thank goodness we had family there or we would have been totally lost, no doubt about that! Anyway, the home bodies finally made it home safe and sound.  And after being home a few days, I still had a feeling in my gut that something isn't right.  I had to get to the bottom of this.  Im beginning to finally awaken to the fact that we are living such a sheltered life, we have no idea how much the world is changing out there.  I mean, we don't watch the news, we are not political people at all so the world has been moving forward without us.  I think I have found the root of the problem!  I am an extrovert living a sheltered life and the people out there I haven't a clue how to interact with.  What to do, what to do?  Hmmm.

The only people I am around other than family are coworkers, facebook (oh ok, that doesn't count), cashiers at the convenience store and grocery store and doctors and nurses at the hospital or clinics.  Oh this is pathetic, I am grasping at straws here!  I guess I better learn how to interact with people.  Education is key to learning, right?  So, how can I get educated rather quickly about people?  Well, turn on the TV of course! Duh~  Here is where the fun begins folks.  From the moment I turned that TV on, it changed my life forever!  Let me explain.  By this time, it is September 2012 and what is fixing to happen in November?  You got it! The Presidential election.

http://www.examiner.com/article/2012-presidential-election-odds-update-obama-widens-lead-vs-romney

After watching all the chaos and drama unfolding before my eyes, I was hooked into the political relm.  It was time to learn about the past, learn about politics and time to follow this election and find out what our future holds!  I knew something wasn't right and somehow I was lead to this election.  Was it about this?  Or was it about who was gonna be our next President of the United States? 
Read part two to find out!  (to be continued)