A FUNNYTHING HAPPENED IN MY MOSTLY RED NEIGHBORHOOD

                        A Funny Thing Happened In 

                     My Mostly Red Neighborhood.

I post a sign monthly on my front lawn. It's usually something like, "Have You Had Enough Yet? Vote Democratic" I changed it up with Resources for People Suffering Financially this past month.

I wave at all my neighbors regardless of their Politics.

When I got on my roof to repair some missing shingles a gathering started at the curb next to my house. I guess the sight of me hauling Roofing Tar and Fiber Rolls and me climbing on the roof , a woman, age 68, was alarming to the "Men" in the neighborhood. 

The "Men" gathered to inform me how dangerous it is to fall off a roof, how to use a trowel to spoon and slather black rubberized tar, how to layer that with fiber and another coat of Tar. The input was spectacular and I bit my tongue and gently suggested my lack of copious amounts of  Testosterone did not hinder my ability to follow directions from This Old House Videos I had watched. The "Men" stayed like a small sightseeing tour at the edge of my property.

 
Talking amongst themselves about how they had shingled their parents or their homes, had fallen off roofs and random gardening tips a bond was forming. I asked if anyone could hold the ladder when I finished so I did not plunge to a broken neck.

They all turned into mother hens and "spotted" me descending the ladder.
They didn't know I had taken outward bound courses and could in fact repel with professional knots and belay lines off a 60 foot tower without personal injury. I kept that to myself. A silent victory without rubbing my prowess in their faces.

I did share with them that life was too expensive for me and I would rather have hired professionals to fix my roof but I had to consider my meager budget and all the expenses, other than basic needs, I was juggling as a homeowner. Everyone agreed it was getting far too expensive to get from one paycheck to another.
They all wave at me and shout, "Hey Trace How Are You today?" like I'm Norm from Cheers.

We haven't solved any of our political differences but we also don't want to shoot one another. Their concern I might fall off my roof was both annoying ,endearing and mutually humanizing. 

 *I can occasionally couch my feminism for diplomacy. Who knows what could happen?