I often wait last minute to write this column, as I’m busy getting the rest of this issue “just so.” As I was getting started yesterday, the phone rang, and it was my 93 year-old dad. “I feel burning in my chest.” A looming deadline be damned, I shot out to Queens. It turned out to be a false alarm within a half hour of my arrival. “I don’t know; I feel 100 percent now.” After some insisting on my part, Poppy has an appointment with his doc. The whole episode was a sure fire reminder to become more proactive about and insistent to him about his care. He has been so stubbornly (and successfully) independent (yes, a true blessing!), it can feel impossible to argue with him. My father has survived the unimaginable; maybe it’s time he allows others in to provide the care he so fully deserves.
So finally–back to finalizing our “Happy Homes and Building Memories” editions… Jodi Baretz’s “Chaotic is the New Happy” column resonates a lot for me. Jodi sets the record straight on what happy is and what happy is not. If only we could bottle happy, sprinkle it on our lives as needed, and poof, we’d be happy. But real life is never so neat. I suspect you are all nodding in agreement.
Chaotic is descriptive too of the last month or so juggling the real life demands of producing local magazines while trying to do ‘my part,’ and ‘living history’ too as I keep up with Hillary Clinton’s extraordinary campaign. I recognize, dear readers, some among you do not support Hillary Clinton. Following years of covering her here and abroad, I chose to be outspoken in my support for her, agreeing that she is the best choice for a “change-maker”…per Bill Clinton’s words, via an editorial that I posted in this space earlier.
I’m grateful I found precious time to visit New Hampshire, twice, and to feel so inspired while she and her staff and volunteers made their case there and in Iowa. The first time I also had a Mom hat on… I was simply picking up Ari from an extraordinary Union College program that gave Ari and a group of his peers a chance to follow all the candidates. Ari clued me in on where the Clintons would appear following one rally, and off I went. Later on, I followed Bill and Chelsea Clinton to New Hampshire towns. 
Of course, being cursed me, I feel what I’m doing is “never enough.” So I was thrilled too to receive “Hillary NOW” co-founder Ann Styles Brachstein’s report from an important fundraiser for Hillary here in the county! As I was going to press, several efforts around town have been underway to support Hillary, and my hat is off to everyone working so hard on her behalf.
Now, if you are ‘not into politics’ at all, please, please enjoy a packed May edition highlighting among other things: our treasure of a music maker, Michael Shapiro; a community outreach effort from Temple Beth El, a visit by Barbara Winton, a ‘farm-to-table’ transformation, all our ‘spotlights,’ and as you know I’m fond of saying…so much more. Now, time and space are running short. Back to ‘real life.’ — Grace Bennett
