HOW DID I GET HERE:  The First Risk, November, 2013

I am angry.  I am frustrated.  They are talking about the effect this law has on other people's lives.  And they could care less!

Mid-morning, I sit down at the computer.  My voice must be heard.  I write, I edit, I click on the "Submit" button.  My first Letter to the Editor is on its way.

Congressional hearings continue.  The roll-out of the Affordable Care Act has been bungled.  The "Party of No" milks the situation for all its worth.  In the meantime, those without any health insurance have become pawns in their political game.

Around 1:00 pm, my phone rings.  Could it be?  Could it be who I think it is?  "Are you the person who wrote the letter?" inquires the voice from the Billings Gazette.  I'm flattered my letter draws some attention but my heart skips a beat.  What have I done?

"Ye-e-e-s," I slowly admit.

"We plan to print it as soon as possible."  And in my head, my voice is yelling, "No, no, no.  Wait a minute!  I'm not so sure I really want to do this thing.  Let me think about it some more!"

Instead, my voice calmly responds, "That will be fine."  And the push/pull of achieving my four goals in 2014 is off to a shaky start.  I want to achieve my goals but am I truly willing to take the risks?  (A similar feeling occurs in 2001 when my husband and I are accepted as Peace Corps Volunteers.)

How will the publishing of this letter affect my life?  What will Roundup, my current hometown,  think?  This is the story of how unplanned it can be to do something so wild as to run blue for office in a red state.  It can sneak up so innocuously.  It happens as a result of unknowingly (on the surface anyway) planting the seed.  With my first Letter to the Editor, I know something can result from it but I do it anyway.  When the result comes, there's a feeling of confirmation but also of trepidation.  There is happiness because my letter has been accepted but dread because I don't know how my letter will be received in Roundup.  How will I be affected personally by this whole thing?  (More later)