This is me on day two of Germany easing lockdown restrictions. No, I am not crying…I’m getting pummeled by rain.
Finally, after eight months of strict lockdown where the only touring I did was of the local grocery store, I was allowed to drink a beer, in public, that I didn’t have to provide for myself.
I needed that beer. I needed to be let out of my four walls. I needed to see people again. Even if it meant we had to do it at weird distances with peculiar and inconsistent restrictions.
AND THEN IT STARTED RAINING.
Let me tell you, like a crazy person, I doubled down, took it to the face, and ordered another.
Because this picture is symbolic of what life has looked and felt like recently.
I had hoped to get a letter to you last week. I had again hoped to get a letter to you yesterday.
But in not-so unpredictable fashion, when life is changing and doors are opening, the Universe will test your limitations…and even sometimes push back.
Here’s a snapshot of the last eight days:
Last Monday we spent all day preparing for my husband to depart. He’ll be gone for a hot minute, so that took up the bulk of that time. Intended newsletter went out the window as military gear got thrown all over the house.
Tuesday he left, and I tried to just deal with my emotions and play general catch up on all the everything that fell to the wayside in the wake of hubby’s departure.
Wednesday and Thursday I spent totally sick.
Friday, I met a gal pal for coffee and ran roughly 8,000 errands.
Saturday, I very stubbornly brunched in the rain.
Sunday I needed a little recoup. We needed let out so bad we kept drinking beer in the rain, totally soaked, and it turns out, I haven’t had that much beer in a while.
Then yesterday hit.
Monday was my day to shake off last week. I woke up, and scrubbed my three-story house from head to toe. The house got dusted, all the bedding got washed, the showers scrubbed, all three floors mopped and vacuumed, windows got wiped down. The house was fresh and spotless and perfect.
I left for the gym with the house smelling like lemon and a spring in my step. I was going to get a leg-day in and then come home and send you my newsletter.
The universe laughed.
I came home ready to write, only to find a literal shit storm had hit my house.
Both those dogs you love to see in the newsletter…they got sick.
So sick in fact, that there was diarrhea on all three levels of my house. It was soaked into the rugs. Tracked across the hardwoods. It was splattered on the walls. It was smeared into the freshly-washed comforters. It had splashed a clean pile of laundry I had not yet put away. It was on every single-effing step of my spiral staircase. It was even on my kitchen counter.
Lord only knows how it got to that last listed location.
Are you kidding me universe?
IT. WAS. EVERYWHERE.
And when I took the dogs to the vet, they couldn’t figure out the source of their digestive discomfort.
Cue the universe, even though there is no official diagnosis for the universe having a laugh.
Here is what I know to be true.
In life, sometimes when you are headed the right direction, energy in the universe will push back.
The power for good to triumph over evil is achieved by people leaning fearlessly into their calling. I know that what I am doing has the power dynamically change lives, so I am not surprised things went to shit in the midst of trying to do good work. When we change, the universe is forced to do the same. The universe is forced to accommodate our new energy, but not every force on earth wants people to rise.
When people rise, power is stripped from evil. But evil loves power, and it doesn’t relinquish it without a fight.
And since stripping power from evil is the goal of this blog, I am not surprised the universe literally shit all over my clean house.
And had me feeling like I was hit by a bus for a few days.
And rained on my brunch.
But I am here to tell you, in the face of universal push-back, I will keep taking the rain to the face, and sipping my beer in defiance.
Because we need this as people. And there are too many people who believe in what I am doing to get distracted by shit storms and storm clouds.
On this blog we do life together. This last week has been a little messy. Messy in that which is external and visible, and messy in the head space that is a little less evident. This is my authenticity, stripped of decorum…and it’s fucking messy. And it might continue to be for a little bit, as we continue to lean into this good work.
And though it’s messy, I am going to keep telling you all about it. Because policy is messy. And people are messy. And messy people create policy. And policy creates messy people.
Our stories are not mutually exclusive from the systems and policy structures in which we live, but rather, are essential to how we approach this world, and change the narrative.
And I am here to testify, it’s time to tell our stories and clean up the shit.
See you soon my loves.
Your Partner in Policy,
Taylor Patrice
We have a lot to look forward to. Here is what is coming:
BRANDING
First and foremost, the branding transformation for this site has officially kicked off, and I am STOKED about what we are working on. Make sure you stay tuned in here for teasers.
Though it’s been a bit quiet, and may continue to be, a lot of work is being done in the background as we rebrand and launch the new focus of this blog. Thanks for being patient with my one-woman team.
BLOGS
Food policy blog series is underway, but in light of what is happening in the world, we may pivot and change courses. I am working on a piece about the relationship between politics and policy, which is essential to making sense of everything you are seeing in the media right now from around the world…and that may be slightly more important for your policy engagement journey than understanding food subsidies (which is also important but slightly less pressing). I will always try to give you an accurate reflection of what to look forward to on the blog, but given how fast the world changes, what’s actually coming next has about as much predictability as world conditions allow.
Work is being done on the back end of the site. If you visit it, you may find that it isn’t accessible. It’s not down, just undergoing regularly scheduled maintenance.
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See you all over the place!