Wake up and make coffee, scroll Facebook while the household wakes around you and flinch at every other story, send some positive comments to friends to try to stem the tide of shit we’ve been buried in all week.

Put on all the layers, hitch up the trailer and don’t think of all the Federal workers with their jobs suddenly yanked out from under them, from the so scary “DEI” office workers to the rangers who just got their dream jobs in their dream park disappeared.

Load up the good fuzzy horses and gear, practice our sticky right lead canter at a wonderful friend’s arena, don’t dwell on a gross and utterly unqualified man appointed to lead the armed forces of your country, proud men and women who put everything and more on the line to keep us the land of the free, you’d think the least we could do is ensure they have solid and understanding leadership.

Hit the sunny trail with those good horses and your amazing and healthy and whole son, enjoy the crunch of ice underfoot, sun on our faces, roll your collar up against the cold winter breeze and don’t think about all the farmworkers who work harder in one day than I have in a year, too terrified to show up to work for fear of being kicked out and their livelihoods ripped from them, a harvest wasted in the fields because of what? Don’t think of the bishop speaking truth to power being told to “not commit the sin of empathy.”

Try to support your close friends who are really going through it, watch your beloved dog play with the new barn pup and shove away the pain and fear and uncertainty of so many vulnerable people, friends and loved ones and strangers all who deserve to just get through a day without wondering if they’ll make it home intact, if they’ll have a job tomorrow, if they’ll be able to afford their medication or surgeries or any small bit of happiness. Don’t think about the doctors on strike because their employer would rather pay scabs and ads in the paper then…staff their hospitals safely. Don’t despair over the world’s richest man with an ugly soul, just casually tossing a whole ass N*zi salute on national fucking television, and having so many try to tell you it’s fine, shut up, take it, he’s in charge now.

Enjoy your pizza and cider with your family, safe and sound in front of you for now. Don’t wonder which of your neighbors with Trump signs would turn you over in a heartbeat if they could, don’t keep asking what they see in these people who are salivating at the mouth to finally tear down what took decades of careful work to build, to inflict hurt and harm and fear on so many just trying to survive however they can.

Hold tight to what you have, stand for those that need it, because sooner or later everyone is going to need support and care and defense. As Gandolf told Frodo, “I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”