You Don't Bring Me Flowers Anymore Mr. President

By Ann

I remember my first love.  When I first saw him I was speechless and my world was shaken from this new experience- this debacle I would come to know as love.  I couldn’t believe I had ever lived one minute before I met him.  I waited with excruciating anticipation every day for the bell to ring at school- this long wait endured soley for the gratification of a fleeting moment in the hallway where I would be able flirt with the object of my affection.  I obsessed over his eyes, his laugh, and his voice and I thought I would die without him.  Of course, it didn’t last and I didn’t die.
Apparently there are three stages of love.  According to Helen Fisher, PhD and a famous biological anthropologist, we go through these three stages:  www.helenfisher.com

1. Lust - needs no explanation
2. Attraction- love struck and cannot think of anything else
3. Attachment- bonding that occurs when you are no longer “love struck”

I thought about these 3 stages when I watched the State of the Union last night. 

"Mister [or Madam] Speaker! "The President of the United States!"  This has been going on annually since January 8, 1790 when George Washington gave his first state of the union.  It was historically a yearly update to congress on the status of the nation and the President’s outline of his (and hopefully in my lifetime/ or her) legislative agenda.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_the_Union_address#cite_note-CRH415-2010-10

After I walked my dog for the last time- I came inside and waited eagerly to hear my president talk about the things that I was desperately wanting to hear.  But like any relationship that starts off with lots of courtship and magical romance- it turns into something a little more ordinary and a lot more comfortable.

Is the Honeymoon over?

Last night the President discussed investing in our country’s infrastructure and children’s education.  Ho-hum.  No kidding- that is a no brainier.  That’s like telling grown people to wash their hands after they go to the bathroom- . I guess we need to be reminded of what worked in the past and what will work in the future to save our great nation.

wait… on second thought it actually was grown people in Minnesota who voted for Michele Bachman (she’s the Manchurian candidate who was looking at the wrong camera when she gave an incoherent speech after the state of the union) well, ok maybe it is worth repeating after all Mr. President.  Thanks again

 But seriously, it felt like I was trying to find a lost spark of romance with a man that I had been living with for 10 years.  Not impossible.  But not easy.

I had hoped he would tell us how he’s done so many great things for our country and what he now plans to do.  Of course investing in our country worked during the depression and it will work now.  Great.  No disagreements there.  That was safe.  And I got glimpses of the pioneer of change and hope that I voted for when he reminded us that only 12% of our national debt comes from domestic spending (that means that 88% comes from NON-WELFARE programs) and that anyone can serve proudly regardless of who they love…and I felt that old familiar sense of pride when he said that money should not be spent on oil companies who were doing just fine on their own and I applauded his sentiment that Muslims ARE a part of our American family.

But like the stages of love - after attraction comes attachment- and I felt it when the president opened himself up to the other side and invited them to give suggestions on how to make health care better.  He put the ball in the nation’s court.

Still, I was really hoping that the President would acknowledge the 300 pound gorilla in the room.  I wanted to hear him eloquently lament that our gun control laws enabled that troubled shooter to almost kill Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.  I desperately hoped he would address the fact that the Republicans are voting today to repeal a health act in a hateful effort to deny some Americans medical attention and to needlessly burden us with health care costs simply because many of them (rep representatives) are in bed with insurance companies.

I wanted to hear him say so many things like that but every day can’t be like the first date…we’d never get anything done.