Thank You President Obama

In November 2008, a new first-time mom was watching election results.  She was horrified with the results, how could the country have betrayed her so, why would they vote this man into office, a man who wanted to change her country.  She was scared not only was she trying to figure out how to be a wife, and new mother but now the country she felt safe in was changing. 

That new mother was me, I didn’t like President Obama winning the 2008 and 2012 elections, I felt that our country was going to hell in a hand basket, and frankly am too young to feel that way.  Shortly after the election we moved to a farm, and I was still scared about what the direction of the country was going with President Obama.  And I decided I wanted to find a way to help my family in case a major event occurred that disrupted life as we knew it.  Seems a little irrational doesn’t it?  Maybe, but people that I respected and trusted told me this was going to happen and imminently, and I needed to be prepared. 

A pretty picture of the garden before weeds take hold.

At the farm that we moved to was a beautiful spot for a garden.  I have never really cared about gardening, but here was a place to have one.  So with Farmer Brown guiding me, and a new baby “helping” me we started gardening.  I have learned a lot in 8 years of gardening, still have more to learn. I have had a garden crop every year despite my lack of knowledge and changing weather conditions.

With the garden came more produce than we could eat in a short amount of time. And in my quest to save my family from impending doom, I decided to can our produce and extra meat in preparation.  Over time we have compiled a stock of food that is stored without electricity for years (although I wouldn’t wait that long to eat it but you could).  I have learned a valuable trade, and so have a lot of other people recently.  This is a good discipline to know, that for a time people thought was going to die away. 

Finished product

So in 2016 I say Thank You President Obama, I am a better person now than I was in 2008.  I have learned many tools that can aid me in protecting and caring for my family without the need of government help.  And yes you have changed the landscape of the country and I have had to have conversations with my “baby” that I didn’t think I would have to have.  And due to various policies and laws that have changed, it has not been the easiest to leave my full time job so that I could take more time to care for my boys.  I respect the vision that you had for our country, even though I disagree with the vision and the plan to get there, and that’s fine we can agree to disagree.  Thank You President Obama for your years of service to our country, and enjoy your retirement.