Croppin' with the 'Crats

Nine months ago when we packed up our house I packed away hundreds of pictures that I was going to put in albums eventually. Well, those boxes of old pictures have finally guilted me into getting back to my photo albums. And as providence would have it, one of the members of the new small group we started from our church is a Creative Memories consultant. So last Friday night I went to her house for a “crop,” a time for scrapbookers to work on their books.

After sorting through four years’ worth of pictures I decided to shelve everything older than a year. I figure I’ll put those in a book when Rebecca goes to college in 13 years.

So armed with pictures from Rebecca’s first ballet recital and Amy’s 8th birthday I headed off to Vinetta’s house for three hours of dedicated scrapbook time. I had no idea I was walking into a minefield.

It started so innocently. One of the other ladies had a picture of Laura Bush; she’d been speaking at a conference this new acquaintance had attended. “I think she is such a class act,” the scrapbooker said of Mrs. Bush.

Feeling quite at home, I commented, “I totally agree. I think she is a perfect first lady.”

Then another lady said, “Yeah, it’s a shame she’s married to such a lousy president.”

Oh. My. Word. I was immediately reminded we’d moved from a red state to a blue state. And I’d entered an entirely blue room.

I decided to tread lightly; I’d just met these folks and thought I could surely find some common ground. “Now, y’all don’t really mean that! He has been a good president…”

I was about to extol his greatness when I was interrupted by three ladies laughing and saying I couldn’t be serious. And they went on to say what a great job Clinton did and how Bush had squandered Clinton’s legacy.

(Oh how I wanted to ask which legacy – the tax the job creators or the mess on the dress… but I resisted the urge.)

Going against my personality, I decided to cut my loses. I said, “Let’s just agree to disagree. Besides,” I added with a smile, “it’s okay for y’all to be wrong.”

Uncomfortable laughter ensued and we went back to our pictures. But that exchange was a wake-up call for me. We live in a blue state. (Which I guess is why there is a dearth of talk radio stations. Oh, how I miss WSB and Neal Boortz!) I am not looking forward to the next election cycle; I fear I will feel like a fish out of water.

At least we managed to move to a red county…