DON'T PANIC.

Not that we don't have REASON to panic.  We do.  The unimaginable has happened.  But it just doesn't do any GOOD to panic.  And those panic hormones are very bad for your health.  So don't go there, if you can possibly avoid it.  

I'm stunned, grieving.  I'm glad my parents aren't alive to witness this.

I don't think people should leave the country.  I believe we have a responsibility to stay here and deal with this.  It's not like this is Albania or Kazakhstan that has elected some nutcase.  What the United States does affects the whole world.  But citizens of other countries have no control over what the U.S. does.  That's up to us, the citizens.  If the people who think Trump is a catastrophe move to other countries -- then there are fewer of us left here to change things for the better.  

It's different if someone is in danger of arrest or physical harm for their political beliefs.  Then they're entitled to flee.  But that is not the case now. 

So this is what life is presenting us with.  What are we supposed to do?  I don't know.  We have to figure that out.  We have to see what happens and figure out what to do. 

It's time to be kind to ourselves.  My friend Elizabeth said she was going to have an ice cream even though she knew it's what Weight Watchers calls "emotional eating."  I said, "If not now, when?"  As for me, I just ordered some things from a catalog:  two silly joke gifts for people I love, and something beautiful to hang in my garden.