I can remember chuckling in high school when Mama informed me they wouldn’t be out too long — just long enough for her and Daddy to cancel each other out at the polls.  Even though they could have both simply stayed home, since they often negated each other, they NEVER did.  Mama was red-headed; half Irish and half French with brown eyes and lived in a genteel, southern home in Ferris, Texas.  I can remember high ceilings, crystal chandeliers, and exquisite, thick textured wallpaper in the dining room with roses on it which my grandmother adored.  Mama’s clothes came from Neiman’s and the majority of her relatives were well-off.  However I have learned that this definition is definitely subjective.  For many around the world that means clean, running water, and electricity.  Mama had a beautiful baby grand with which she was gifted at the tender age of ten, and my grandfather owned the town drug store.  He was a pharmacist.  When Mama and Daddy met in high school it was a classic story of “the boy from the other side of the tracks.”  Despite my father’s lack of money, every weekend he brought my mother a corsage until my grandmother asked him to please stop doing so because their refrigerator was full.  When my father served in Korea for two terms (eight years) they sent my mother off to an aunt and uncle in Florida during the summers.  Since her aunt by marriage got an invitation to Princess Graces’ wedding, I’m going to say she was wealthy.  During those years Mama would not be swayed.  Her heart and loyalty remained with my daddy.  When he was home for good and they were dating in college Mama said Daddy HUMILIATED her by driving to pick her up for a date with this enormous Republican billboard he’d somehow fashioned and affixed onto the top of his car.  During all their time together I’m not quite sure if they ever voted the same.  But somehow, they always entered the polls smiling at each other, hand in hand.  For them, religion was their unifying factor.  Despite how passionate one or the other ever became in politics they never made it personal.  Little did I realize it was due in part to the great respect they had for one another.  I cannot ever recall my father trying to belittle my mother; nor can I ever recall my mother haranguing my father about his beliefs.  I always assumed if I got married my husband and I would agree politically.  After all, in the seventh grade I broke up with a a boy whom I ADORED simply because he preferred Coca-Cola.  I said it could never work since I loved Dr. Pepper (“Texas water,” and the oldest “soda” in the nation, by the way.)  I have always been interested in the Civil War but I never could grasp how family could turn against family.  I think I get it now.  The thing that saddens me is I believe our country has reached another great divide.  Allow me to dispel some stereotypes:  Republicans are mostly white.  My daddy grew up in a place in the early 1930’s with the dubious distinction of proclaiming it had “The Blackest Land and The Whitest People.”  Both of my father’s grandparents, who reared him, were full-blood Native American.  His best friend was an old black man with whom he loved to go fishing.  My father said one of the scariest sights he had ever seen was witnessing the crosses the KKK burned on the old man’s lawn.  The town paster was enrolled in the KKK and never even knew it; apparently it was for his “protection.”  To be a red man is to neither be wolf nor dog.  Somehow his family was accepted by whites but they also had fellowship with former slaves.  In Korea my father fought alongside black and Jewish men and he was respected by all — including the whites and the Koreans.  Daddy once told me he watched a man die just to keep the American flag from hitting the soil.  He was very conservative and worked fervently for Barry Goldwater.  Mother’s family were long time southern Democrats who spoke highly of the WPA.  Frankly, I stilll think most of the lovely things this country has is due to that project.  This summer we stayed for a night in an historic Mississippi “Inn” which had really been a plantation.  The hired help was so very black I remember actually feeling self-conscious; no inter-racial mingling there.  I had a deep conversation with this man who could have stepped out of an old Shirley Temple film.  He told me he supported Trump and proudly listed the reasons why.  My husband was blessed to come from money but he has often spoken of “Limousine Liberals.”  I am not criticizing him for that; I am simply describing how he views things.  You cannot guess what political party I am.  I am certainly for birth control but against abortion unless it comes down to the baby or the mother.  I think we should have a flat tax.  My father taught me that no one “deserves” anything; so we are not entitled to what the rich have.  I was also brought up by my mother to protect the innocent.  When I was younger things seemed so black and white; no pun intended.  Big government, in my opinion, can be scary and yet having American citizens go without basic necessities is also frightening.  So then who is right?  What constitutes “big government” and what constitutes “necessity?”  Forgive me, dear readers, far and wide.  This will be the first time in almost six years that I shall not attribute a quote (because I cannot be certain of its origin, although it is thought to be Native American).  “What if I told you that the left wing and the right wing belong to the same bird.”  So I am posting a picture of our wolf dog Shadow.  It has been said one can see their soul in the eyes of a wolf.  I would encourage you:  try to see someone’s “ayes” through their eyes.