The president is going to speak tonight (as I write this). I wonder if he will remember to talk about the 18 trillion dollars we owe! Or the fact that there are still people looking for employment. I guess many of them have given up and taken part time work. Or, another important part of his message should be the Islamic terrorists cells that are already in our country ready to pounce on us at any time. How about Immigration? Or have we let in enough drug cartels or terrorists to take care of whatever they need to do so we don’t have to close our borders?

I guess I ask too much. I have heard that he is planning to put another tax on us, That probably will take up much of his time. I do wish he would at least solve part of our problems. That would be nice, wouldn’t it?

America is a great country. It is a beautiful country full of good people, all trying to raise their families. We must take some time to stand up and try to do something about our problems. At least we have the power of our vote and prayer. Pray for America. God is in control and he will listen if we pray. It says in the Bible that if we humble ourselves and pray and ask for forgiveness he will hear our prayers and heal our land. That’s a promise he makes and it would be good if all of us did what he asks us to do.

I don’t know if listening to his speech will do any good except raise my blood pressure. I am a Portland Trailblazer fan and they are also playing basketball tonight soooooo?

I watched in pride as my fourteen year old granddaughter stood before us waiting for approval from her mother and those of us who were around at the time, which was not hard to give. She was wearing a sleeveless formal and silver high heeled shoes,which I wondered how in the world could she walk in them, let alone dance in them! Her hair was beautifully done as was her makeup. Yes, she was ready for her first formal dance. I was proud of her. she looked so beautiful! I met the boy who would be taking her to the dance and I met his mother who would drive them. But I couldn’t help but think of how I went to my first formal event, If you could call it that!

It was a banquet put on by our church. Dancing was prohibited by both our school and church so we asked if the church women would put on a valentine banquet instead. Oh, how excited we girls were! We planned how we would make our dresses and how we would fix our hair. We weren’t allowed to go with a boy to this banquet but we didn’t mind. We would see them there! Some of us went together to buy the fabric for our dresses. Cotton was the cheapest so we bought that. Mine was a rose color cotton and my pattern was a full skirted dress that I could wearl later on for church.

I’m sure I stood looking at my parents for approval just like Sarah did even though this was my senior year in high school. I was 18 years old. Sarah was in her freshman year. Boy, how things have changed! I was wearing my rose cotton dress I had made myself. My hair was curled in pin curls the night before and my shoes were the shoes I wore eery Sunday at church. I wore no makeup either. but I stood there just as proud as Sarah did and I’m pretty sure my parents were proud of their daughter too.

I’m not sure newer is better in that case though. Kids today grow up much too fast as far as I’m concerned. It seems a formal dance is really too much for fourteen year old kids. Maybe I’m wrong. How do you feel about this?