This is a picture of my dog, Arden. I am too swamped today to walk him, but at least I get to honor him with a picture on this blog. Somehow I don't think he thinks this is a good trade-off.

My DVD is finally finished and available. You can get it on Amazon.com or from Skeptic.com or at ffrf.org. Amazon doesn’t have it as a possible in-your-hands-date until Dec. 11th even though I shipped them the DVDs. I'm breathing a sigh of relief that the finishing of it all has been accomplished. It’s done, done, done. Also, if you’re interested, you can view the trailer, the audience q & a, and the audience interviews on YouTube. If you go to my website, and look under “Stuff I’m doing” and click on Letting Go of God – you’ll get the mini-web-page for the DVD and a pointer to the extras on YouTube.

I'm still in the after-glow of Obama winning the presidency. I'm ooing and ahing over each cabinet nomination. I have been convinced that Hillary Clinton is a good pick for Secretary of State, even though foreign affairs seems to have been the topic on which she and Barack most diverged. But I think Hillary was making herself out to be more of a hawk than she really is. She had to prove she could be tough and aggressive as a woman, and that is one way to flex your muscles. I’m hoping she does eventually become President, after eight years of Obama. I also hope that she can remake the Secretary of State job into something that she can use to promote herself as President even though history has not been kind to Secretary of State presidential bids. But we’re in a new era, and she can recreate that role.

There are numerous things regarding the Obama Presidency that I’m chewing on and mulling over, but one of the most inconsequential and picayune (and yet real) is this: , Barack Obama is younger than me. By two years. Two years younger! Seeing what he has done with his life has made me reassess all my own life choices. For example, when Barack was at Harvard Law school I was spending most of my energy on guys and parties and writing skits. How was he so smart to marry someone else so smart, so young???

Obviously, I didn’t choose politics, but I just marvel at Barack’s skill at sizing up the playing fields within various institutions and coming out a winner. I realize how much younger, emotionally, I was, how naïve I was, how lacking in ambition I was in my twenties and thirties. I don’t feel bad about myself, I’m glad for all I’ve done. But Barack’s ability to excel just takes my breath away. He does his homework. I kind of tried to fudge my homework an hour before class.

The other thing I am thinking is that… wow… I’m middle aged. Really middle aged. In the middle. I have spoken about this with many of my friends and most of them seem to be going through the same emotional readjustment – we are older than our President! It used to be that old white guys were president. Now it’s a younger half-white guy. We are thrilled, we are supportive and we all could care less about skin color – but age.? The age thing! Younger? How can this be?

The last time this happened to me was when I began to notice that soldiers were younger than me. It was just the same thing. Soldiers were older men who fought for us and defended us. Suddenly they weren’t. They were younger guys who even looked like teenagers. Then we realized that many of them were teenagers. It was a shock.

I am starting to go into overwhelm as I get ready to move. The books in the living room are packed, but not the hallway. I have drawers full of old mail, receipts, half-written letters. I’m having to face all of it. It’s like going through your own dirty laundry and having to smell each piece of clothing closely. YUCK.