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Refilling our glass with faith and hope

by KERRI THORESON/Main Street
| August 18, 2021 1:00 AM

When I’m asked what kind of a column I write, I’ve said for decades it’s about whatever amuses, annoys or inspires me in any given week. I think I need to add a few more verbs to include whatever makes me shake my head in disbelief or sadness or simply want to curl up in the fetal position until everything is normal.

The old adage “is the glass half empty or half full” should be amended to add "is the glass refillable." We’ve refilled our glass full of faith and hope and humanity many times over in the past year or two. But despite our best efforts there’s still a virus running the show. It’s caused sickness in the most literal and the most figurative senses. Civil discourse has lost its way and the division and vitriol will likely far outlast it all.

In a summer that turned crops and gardens brown and perpetuated wildfires that have raged for many weeks, turned our skies to ash and consumed forests as well as the daily lives of firefighters working around the clock, the moments of simple joy seem to be fleeting.

In recent days the news and images from Afghanistan and a two-decade long war being lost breaks my heart for the families of the young men who gave their last full measure on devotion on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. Young men whose names appear on the local Killed in Action monument and whose families I know.

I’m grateful for all of the people in our communities who continue to inspire, show up every day and do good deeds quietly. When life feels heavy and hard is the best time to look around and realize there’s light and goodness. It’s the best antidote for all that ails us.

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Happy birthday today to Jim Hail, III (40!), Brandi Meeks, Jaqueline Dickinson, Jake Medlock, Jasmine Preckle, Sarah Andrews, Toni Prince, Marissa Davenport, Corrine Larsen, Keva Wolfe, Andrea Sadler, Julie Pierce and Althea Carpenter. Tomorrow Barrett Herman, Vicky Jo Carey, Scott Noordam, Amy Elder, Peter Woods (13!) and Frank Garcia blow out the candles.

Mary Condie, Nancy Scofield, Elaine Carda, David Buerge, Louise Gillespie, Christina Gardner, Gene Colley (90!) and Art Elliott share Aug. 20 birthdays. Celebrating on Saturday are Crystal Shofner-Moore, Jared Phay, Matthew Behringer, Doris McCaulley, Mike Warren and Kelly Chadderdon.

Sunday Brett Seright, Leanne Campbell, Mary Gomer, Cathy Smith, David Walrath, Cecilia Peterson and Lilliana Raynor blow out the candles. On Monday wish a happy birthday to Art Flagan, Susie Heitstuman, Beth Dagastine, Debbie Berger, Eileen Mann, Bobby Bunch, Donnie Goodnature and Rod Robins. Tuesday birthdays for Peggy Turrell, Karen Sorbel, Mike Dodge, Linda Fox, Lori Chissie, Sarah Rasmussen and Eric Burgeson.

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Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press and Kerri can be contacted on Facebook or via email mainstreet@cdapress.com. Follow her on Twitter @kerrithoreson.