Voting

This morning I filled out my ballot and dropped it in the mail. Thanks to being a journalist, I know some of the local, state and national candidates and have met others.

At a time like this, when we have a would-be dictator at President, voting becomes especially important. It is the main way we can exercise our rights. And perhaps save our democracy.

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This was another emotional week. I am not going to go into the details except in one case. I was on a phone call with one of my reporters as she interviewed a young woman who alleges she was sexually abused.

It was my role to explain to her we had to contact her alleged abuser. That is our journalistic and legal obligation. As I told her that, she started sobbing -- she didn't want us to talk to him.

I felt horrible -- obviously this news had triggered her.

It is often not easy being a journalist. This was one of those times. But eventually we were able to help her calm herself and by the end of the call she said she understood why we had to do this.

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No Sleep

I am up much too early again. I've been communicating with some of my kids, who never seem to sleep at all. I cannot imagine why they are still awake at 3 a.m.

But when you are filled with emotion, it is difficult to sleep. How do you explain all of this? Maybe the result of accepting your emotions, medically, is a diagnosis of anxiety. Why is that?

We have medicines to treat these conditions, but maybe they don't need to be treated. Maybe these feelings just need to be felt and lived with and through.

This was an emotional weekend for me and my three youngest kids. Maybe we shouldn't be able to sleep through it. We are remembering someone special we lost year ago. And that is enough to keep us sleepless.

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How Words Can Matter...

As it turns out, my lovely daughter Julia read the words I posted yesterday about her grandfather at the family gathering. They were simple words; had I known this would happen, I would have written more, much more.

But maybe simple is best, at times like this. And what an honor it is to have her as my daughter.

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