stoly

I am with you 100%. Early-to-mid spring also does it to me as well when the days and nights are just right.

Yes and everyone is like OH MY GOD I HAVE THE BEST HIKE/BIKE RIDE/CAMPING/BEACH IDEA YOU HAVE EVER HEARD OF AND YOU NEED TO STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND COME WITH ME NOOOOOOW and act like you are broken if you aren't in the right mood for it. I may very well like these things but need to build up to it.

That’s kind of you to say. There was definitely no way I could have foreseen what the Web 2.0 era would be like.

If I could give gold stars, I'd give you one now.

When the internet became more of a common thing, I really believed that it would bring people together. That all everyone needed was to be exposed to information. That seems so very naive now.

I grew up in a very conservative household and genuinely believed everything I was taught due to not being exposed to other ideas. Over time, even when in high school, I started to notice that people hated things without understanding them. Ask someone to explain to you why communism is bad, for instance, and they probably can't because they know nothing about it.

Over time, I became exposed to more diverse people, educated people, people from different places. I went to school and got my masters degree. I have found that I am frankly fairly liberal by US standards.

The MAGA types used to talk about an education when it was a way to insult people who make the minimum wage and make it their fault that they were underpaid. They didn't actually want peoples' lives to be better, but rather to find a way to look down on entire classes of humans.

It's not just CA. The closest one to the west coast is in Arizona. Most are in the south with some extending into the Midwest or up the east coast.

The sad thing is that I really like the Waffle House but, for the most part, they just don't exist in states that are worth living in.

You should do what you are comfortable with. If he is genuinely better, then that is fantastic for him. You likely still carry some trauma around from that experience, and your ability to move past it may not match his. That is fine, you don't have to do anything. If you want to meet him, do. If you don't, then don't.

My only suggestion is this: if you do meet him, do it without your son along. Meet him in some place public, and perhaps even take a friend or family member with you. Only involve your son later if you are sure about it.

I fully agree with what you are saying here. The problem is not the requirements, it is whether the city is willing to fund the staffing to properly manage the approval process/departments.

I have experienced some recent schadenfreude with farmers who no longer have workers to harvest because ICE scared them away.