I have survived another week, yet the horrors persist.
Every year for 4th of July week, my friends and I get together. It’s the one time of year we carve out of our schedules to make sure we see each other. We’ve been doing it for over 20 years.
The first few years we went up to Annapolis, Maryland, to my friend’s father’s house. He lived on the water, and we’d take his boat out and watch the fireworks. 2 separate years we were pulled over by the coast guard—at least one of those was because he didn’t have a light on the boat at night.
Then my friend’s father got lung cancer. He survived the treatments, and was cancer free. And then he died suddenly in his house less than a year later.
He’d always have fun with us. He’d take us out on his boat, he’d drive us around in his antique car—he was like a big kid.
One of my friends ended up buying a beach house in North Carolina, and we started doing our 4th of July’s down there. It’s a nice house, with only one house between theirs and the beach. I love going there and relaxing.
Our group has grown. My friends had twins 14 years ago—my god kids. And now another friend has gotten married. She already has 2 kids, and they also just had a daughter. I love spending 4th of July with them all.
This year, my friend rented a house on Smith Mountain Lake for all of us instead of going to the beach house. He rented a pontoon boat, and we went out on the lake a couple of times tubbing and water skiing (or trying to).
I didn’t really feel like celebrating the 4th of July this year, but seeing my friends is important to me. They’re family. We didn’t watch any fireworks, or participate in any 4th of July festivities, we all just hung out with each other.
Unfortunately, one of my god kids caught the flu, and slowly, as the week progressed, more of us succumbed to the illness. I managed to last until I’d driven home at the end of the week, only to get it a day later. But at least I didn’t have to drive with a fever.
On the second day on the pontoon boat, I’d promised one of the girls I’d go tubbing with them. As I was going to get on the tube with her, the boat rocked with a wave, and I stumbled, kicking the daylights out of the metal door on the back of the boat. My little toe is still swollen, and the bruising has spread all the way down my toe to my foot. It still aches a week later. But it was fun.
I love them. They’re family. And I don’t know when I’ll be back to do another 4th of July with them. I don’t know when I’ll see them again.
They kept trying to convince me to come back just for the week of July 4th next year, but I just don’t know if it’ll be safe.
While we were there, we heard on the news that Trump’s Fascist American Party passed the big beautiful bill. And now we have Alligator Alcatraz, a brand new concentration camp in Florida, with other red states vying to have one built in their state.
It’s sickening, and terrifying. It’s cruelty for the sake of cruelty. And people celebrate him for it.
House Still Persists
My house still hasn’t sold. I’ve talked to my real estate agent about maybe renting it. I feel horrible—I’d hoped this would help both of us, and instead the market has just crashed. She’s put in all this effort to try and sell it, and it’s just sitting there.
There’s nothing wrong with the house, it’s an incredible house, but with things so uncertain, and the interest rates being crazy, no one wants to buy right now.
But I leave for Canada August 31st, and I can’t afford to do that unless I mitigate my mortgage somehow. There was a showing last night, so hopefully that went well—I haven’t heard yet. But if nothing changes, I need to shift gears and list it to rent instead.
It’ll make it a bit harder to survive these next few years, but not impossible. I was hoping to have some in savings so I could apply for residency in Canada and Mexico, but if my house doesn’t sell, I won’t be able to do that.
Instead, I’ll have to bounce back and forth on tourist visas. That’s possible, but makes it a little more difficult.
Luckily, I still have my online businesses. I work with companies who print the art work and shirts and such for me, so I don’t have to worry about my own inventory. I just need to make sure I have good internet connection, my laptop (which has Photoshop on it), and my drawing tablet, and I can work from anywhere.
I have a neurospicy brain, and I can get overwhelmed easily, especially if my routine is interrupted. If I never have a chance to settle into a new routine, I don’t know how well I’ll do, but I’ll have to figure it out.
But Puerto Vallarta is an LGBTQIA+ safe haven, and looks like a gorgeous place to spend some time. I think away from the beach, and up in the hills, rent is a bit cheaper. And in the hills, there’s tons of hiking trails—so that’s right up my alley!
And in Canada my friend’s live in a rural area I think. So maybe lots of nature there too. I’ve never been to Ontario, but I’m excited to see it. And I’m excited see my friends and to spend time with them.
I’ll have to figure out currency exchange and all that without being able to have a bank there. And, of course, all of my health needs for my chronic illnesses.
Persistence is Resistance
It was almost easy to forget all of the things happening right now this past week with my friends. Spending time with them makes things almost feel like they’d be okay. But somehow, things keep getting worse every day. Somehow, this country continues to be needlessly cruel to everyone it can.
I’ve talked about post scarcity before. I’ve wanted so long to be able to build a world where everyone across the world would be okay. Where no one had to work for housing, food, water, electricity, transportation, healthcare, or education. We have the resources to do it, but instead greed wins. Imagine a world where no one had to work just to survive. People would work for the things they want, and not for necessities.
The Fascist American Party will call it communism. But, as Moldaver said in Fallout “I’m not a communist, Mr. Howard, that’s just a dirty word they use to describe people who aren’t insane.”
I guess I was spoiled by Star Trek, and their idea of the future. It’s always been an idea I could never let go of. But I’m an artist, and not a rich one, more of a living month to month one. I don’t have the brains or the resources to make it happen.
But I’m starting to see this idea being pushed in other places in the world too. Maybe one day it’ll take hold, and we’ll finally build something that really helps people. A system that is good for everyone. I look forward to the day where we finally embrace that we are one, that we are all children of the Earth, of the universe.
Until that day comes, I guess I’ll have to keep on drawing, wherever that may be. Dark clouds have come to play again, and I can’t see the way through with all of the rain. But I know the sun will come out again.