Sarah Palin: Just Like Me

Dear Jane,

Sorry I haven’t e-mailed all week. I’ve been kind of busy, although I know that’s not an excuse for not writing to your oldest and dearest friend. But it was sort of an unusual week.

Monday: I spent a couple of hours at the Palin for VP office, addressing envelopes to registered Democrats in Florida, and when I left to go home, my car wouldn’t start. It was in the shop for 2 days, and finally on Tuesday the mechanic called and said it was ready, so I got a ride there and picked it up, and I paid them $300 and drove out of the lot but I’d only gone two blocks when the engine started making a really horrible noise and smoke started coming up out of the hood. To make a long story short, the mechanic confused the generator with alternator, so now the engine is ruined. But just because my car is now junk, it wouldn’t be right to get a different mechanic, or sue him—like Sarah Palin said at the Republican Convention, working people like my mechanic are the ones who do some of the hardest work in America –the ones who grow our food, run our factories, and fight our wars. They love their country, in good times and bad, and they’re always proud of America. After all, they’re working people, just like me, and that’s who I want to fix my car, whether they can tell an alternator from a generator or not.

Tuesday: We had to take Grandma to the hospital, because she developed stomach pain suddenly, but the ER doctor just gave her some antacids and Tylenol and sent her home. The next morning she was even worse, so we took her back to the hospital and it turned out she had a ruptured appendix. Her regular doctor said the hospital was negligent in not checking for appendicitis when she was there the first time. But I talked to the ER doctor, and he told me he was kind of new at this. It’s just like Sarah Palin said in Dayton, Ohio in August—she never really set out to be involved in public affairs, much less to run for Vice-President. So I really can’t fault the doctor, just because he always thought he’d be a truck driver and didn’t really plan on going to medical school. Grandma’s funeral is Sunday, by the way, if you can make it.

Wednesday: I went to a PTA meeting at the high school, and the principal said that because of severe budget cuts, he’s going to have to lay off most of the qualified teachers. But he said we parents can help out by taking over for the teachers. I never went to college myself, and certainly never trained as a teacher, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have experience—just like Sarah Palin, I was just your average “hockey mom,” and I also served as the team mom for the basketball team and did some coaching on the side. In that same speech in Dayton, Sarah said she signed up for the PTA because she wanted to make her kids' public education better. So, just like Sarah, I’m going to give it my all. I’m scheduled to take over the Advanced Chemistry class beginning next week. But it’s the least I can do: like Sarah says, to have been chosen brings a great challenge. I know that it will demand the best that I have to give, and I promise nothing less.

Thursday: I spent an hour on the phone with the gas company, trying to correct an error on my bill. I knew it was wrong because it was almost $100 higher than last month, for Pete’s sake! They kept insisting the bill was correct, and I wasn’t really getting anywhere, and finally the woman on the phone told me to go outside and look at my gas meter, and it turned out there was no mistake, the numbers were correct. She explained to me that the cost of natural gas in my area jumped over 80% last month because of something having to do with taxes and Federal regulations and trade deficits, which I didn’t really understand, but the bottom line is that I now have to come up with an extra $97 for the gas bill, and I don’t know where that’s going to come from. I suppose we can cut back on groceries, and hopefully Jason can squeeze his feet into his old tennis shoes for another month—honestly, the kids seem to grow out of their clothes faster than I can buy them. But I guess I shouldn’t complain. After all, I’m certainly not the only one going through this—like Sarah Palin told the Alaska Federation of Natives last year, we are all paying a higher price for energy, and she understands very well the hardships this is causing us. She’s aware that this crisis is affecting families, schools, local governments and local businesses, so that’s very comforting. I just hope Jason finds that just as comforting as his shoes get tighter.

Friday: I borrowed my sister's car and drove Grandpa down to the Social Security office, since now that Grandma’s gone, he had to fill out some forms. Of course now that he won’t be getting her check every month, it looks like he’s not going to be able to afford to keep the house. There used to be a government program for people like Grandpa, people who were old and couldn’t work any more, but it was discontinued a couple of years ago when the Administration cut the budget so they could give us tax rebates. Lower taxes are supposed to stimulate the economy, but I’m not really sure how that worked out; I know a few people who bought big-screen TV’s and things like that, but even with the lower taxes, our expenses for gas and food and insurance are so much higher that we’re worse off than before, and we can’t even help Grandpa. It’s too bad, really; he worked his whole life and that house was the only thing he ever owned. Guess he’ll have to sell the house and move in with us, although I’m not sure where we’ll put him; I suppose we’ll just have to put the boys in one bedroom. Maybe we’ll use this year’s tax rebate for a bunk bed. And I’m not sure what he’ll do all day, since the Senior Center closed last month when their state funding ran out. He likes to go to the library, but since the bus line that ran near our house got cut, there really isn’t a way for him to get there. But what can you do? It’s like Sarah Palin said at the convention: how are we going to be any better off if taxes go up?

Well, that’s it for now—it’s getting late and I need to go to sleep. I’ve been feeling unusually tired for a couple of months, but since Jim got laid off we don’t have health insurance so I’m not going to go to the doctor unless it’s something really serious. I’m sure that if I just try to eat healthier and exercise more, I’ll be fine. Like Sarah Palin told the Alaska Federation of Natives last year, health care is everyone's job, not just in treating illness but in promoting healthy living. She said we must take personal responsibility, engaging our minds and hands in meaningful work, and that these are all essential components of healthy, secure lifestyles and communities. Hopefully if I do that, the heart palpitations and dizzy spells will go away.

TTYL,

Phyllis