Is it over yet?

According to the Pew Research organization, 50% of Americans have a negative view of the last decade. Well, DUH! Of course we're ready for it to end, especially those of us here in B'town. This blog's too small to recap all the weird things from the last 10 years so I'll just mention some that come immediately to mind. First and foremost were the fighter planes intercepting an Amish farmer's plane over Bloomington the week of 9/11/01. My poor parents, remembering Pearl Harbor, thought we were under attack. For some reason, the pilot just didn't get the message that the airports were closed to everyone--even Amish farmers from southern Indiana.

Then who would have imagined that Miles Brand would have the balls to fire Bobby Knight or hire those athletic directors McNaulty and Greenspan? Could hizzoner, the President, have dug any further down in the barrel of green slime? Then not to be outdone, his successor supported the hiring of Kelvin Sampson who must have been lurking at its very bottom. Thank goodness for Fred Glass.

This also seemed to be the decade of "traffic calming." That's the Liberalville synonym for building hazardous obstacles in the middle of the street. It's a wonder that complete neighborhoods have not been destroyed due to a fire truck's inability to maneuver the roadway or round the round- abouts...especially on 7th Street. This must have been the reason so many Bloomingtonians converted to "Smart" cars. They were the only ones intelligent enough to traverse our dangerous but "calm" streets.

Another marker of the decade was the invasion of the "Coasties," a form of locust. They arrive en masse each August and leave every May in 4-year cycles. The females are easily identified by their UGGs, black leggings, huge sun glasses, Longchamp tote bags and North Face jackets...The male species are seen in pajama bottoms, flip flops, stubbly beards and bed heads. Both sexes swarm through downtown in Beamers, Escalades, Porshes and the like all bearing license plates from New York and New Jersey.

Oh, I could go on and on and rant and rant. But in the interest of starting the next decade on a high, up-beat note, I'll just say au revoir and adieu to the aughts. Good riddance. Bring on the teens.

Where' Are the Christmas Cards

Remember those? Before the days of social media and email, cards were a regular part of Christmas. Back in the day when I was a politician's wife, we'd make our pilgrimage to Keystone at the Crossing to buy more than a 100 cards with our type-set signature line and stamped return address. I could address more than 25 an hour--stopping only to change pens and wet my mouth after all the licking and sealing.

But not only were their McDaniel cards to send there were political candidate cards to to as well. We, no, I mean my husband was in charge of stuffing, hand addressing and stamping cards to a candidate's 10,000+ friends and family. That process started way before Halloween. Fortunately, I complained and wined enough that I was only forced to engage in the candidate card brigade earlier in the marriage. But that was then.

This is now. According to USA Today, Christmas mail has dropped 11 percent this year. Postage is 44 cents a card (last I looked) so maybe that's the reason I've only received three cards and it's already December 18. Or maybe it's because my friends' children are grown and there's no need to send family pictures. Maybe folks have just lost interest and think YouTube, Flickr and Facebook surfice. Or, sadly, some have died.

Frankly, I miss the cards...even the ones stuffed with the three-page, single-spaced Christmas "note" archiving a family 's every move the past 365 days. A Hallmark card with a family picture and a Christmas note was always a highlight of my holiday. I couldn't wait to get home and find mail that came sans postage paid envelope for a payment or donation. I loved catching up with everyone's comings and goings

Now the only way I get to do that is to settle down with the stack my parents still receive, probably because their friends aren't on Facebook, don't tweet or email and still believe, as I do, that cards are an integral part of the Christmas tradition. So I'll stop lamenting and start addressing. Merry Christmas and a healthy and happy new decade to everyone.