A few days after the November elections I found myself asking a Visiting Nurse to leave my home. I've never done that before - asked someone to leave.
My mom was here recuperating from a fall. The visiting nurse was here to check and re-bandage her injuries. To simplify things I'll call her VN. We were chatting about this 'n that while she worked and she expressed her shock that MO Prop B (the Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act) had passed. My mom and I agreed. VN said she'd been watching the results that evening and went to bed believing the measure had been rejected by voters. Again, my mom and I agreed.
VN went on to say she felt so terribly sorry for the farmers, plus she didn't know what her sister was going to do. A yellow light began to flash in my head. I told her that we all voted for Prop B. (Okay, I admit that as I said this I raised my fist in the air, pumped it a few times, and grinned broadly.)
VN's hands idled, my mom and VN's job-at-hand forgotten, as she sputtered in rapid succession the talking points of the anti-Prop B folks. Prop B would ruin farming in MO because the law would also apply to dairy cattle, beef cattle, hogs, chickens, and horses. Poor hardworking dog breeders would be forced out of business, including her sister. And so on and so on. She didn't stop for a breath for quite some time.
I did try for about a minute or two to reason with her. No good. By then that flashing light in my head had turned red. So then I reminded her that the old rule about never discussing politics and religion was probably a good one. That didn't do any good either. She'd worked herself into a fevered pitch. Finally, I reminded her that she was in my house, that I did not want to "discuss" this issue any further, and that I'd appreciate it if she'd stop.
She couldn't. So, I asked her to leave. Before I lost my good manners. As she walked out my front door she apologized. I accepted her apology. Then she started in again.
Bottom line: we never saw VN again. Another visiting nurse has been treating mom since then. And none of us discuss politics or religion.
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