Halloween 2019 Archives - The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally

At around 3:00 AM last night, I was woken up by a crash, like something big had fallen down.

When investigating what had gone down, my fiancé Michael informed me that the beautiful watercolor by Paul Nagano that was hanging up on the wall had gone down. I asked what was uppermost in my mind: “Did it break?” He said, “No, but these things suck” (referring to the strips that had been keeping that picture up for over a year).

Now, these thoughts that are going down in my head are keeping me up:

How are we going to get that fallen painting back up, now that our faith in those picture hanging strips has gone down?
How are we going hang up another wonderful watercolor by Paul Nagano and the amazing photograph my ex-husband recently took of our son Aaron with his large-format camera?
Are we the only people who don’t like putting holes in our walls to hang things up?
What’s going down in the United States of America?
Who’s going to help our fallen principles get back up?
Why do all these things get me down and keep me up?
Should I write down some lyrics for a country song titled “What’s Keeping Me Up Is What’s Going Down”?

What’s Keep Me Up is What’s Going Down

by Ann Koplow

What’s keeping me up is what’s going down.

I’m sleepless and helpless and wearing a frown.

Problems unsolvable seem to abound.

What’s keeping me up is what’s going down.

I’ve now written down lyrics for five songs that are still up in the air — I haven’t completed any of them. That’s neither keeping me up nor getting me down; I have faith in my own process (even if I’ve lost faith in the process of the people in charge of our country).

Here’s what’s going down in my latest photos:

If you’re feeling down about what’s going down around you, maybe one of these Pumpkin Spice songs put up here, here, here, and here on YouTube will cheer you up.