I wrote a letter to the President yesterday...

Yes, that president, the President of the United States of America. President Obama.

I will blame it on the vicodin. amen.

Have you ever written to the President before? Me either. It was rather simple. You just go here and write. Writing the President is so.not.me. I am actually rather introverted, Minnesota Nice and just let people be and want people to let me be. I did write my congressman once when I was in high school. I bet I even dotted my "i's" with colorful hearts. Bet they took me seriously. I have marched in a few small rallies, I have escorted for Choice at Planned Parenthood and I have routed a petition now and then. But for the most part, I just hang-out and live my life and shop too much.

Now, who knows if he will write me back. I see on the website that he gets 10's of thousands of letters a day. Do you think so? Or do they just say that to be cool? It's like me saying I get 500 comments on my blog per day, but I just don't publish them because I don't want to seem so cool. But I was impressed that there is no limit on how many words I could put in my email. I wrote forever and it never stopped me! Now, when I write ebay, they only allow me like 300 characters because they like to play god and act like they rule the free World. ebay sucks.

As I was writing to him, I also thought about asking First Lady Michelle to join a Boutique clothing board I belong to, but would that be stalker-ish. Perhaps.

As I was writing, I also wondered if there was this whole security task force set-up to hunt down the "writers" and follow us to see if we are psycho or a security threat. When I take my kids for a walk, will I see agents jumping behind bushes talking to each other about my whereabouts and behaviors? Will my phones be tapped? Am I still delusional and think W is still in the White House? These are the things I think about sometimes.

So, I included a link to my blog in my note...yes, really I did, so he could check me out and see that I was relatively normal and pretty much just a mom. Then I thought, oh crap, he will see my leaking nipples, he will see that I don't go to church, he will see me use the "f" word. Maybe that is not all that good. But, if he goes back to the post on election day November 2008, he will see that Esther voted for him as well as Al Franken...so perhaps this will make up for my nipples?

So I wrote to him about health care. I posted last week that I received a bill from the hospital for a $5000 nursery stay for Astrid even though SHE NEVER LEFT MY ROOM - I cared for her and nursed her solely. Why should I pay? So, I called the billing office and talked to the supervisor and received the answer "well, everyone pays for the nursery whether you use it or not." So, I found the hospital administrators number and left him a message also. I used the analogy of taking a cruise with a kids club on it. At the end of the cruise I was charged for the kids club...even though I did not use it, because everyone who comes on the cruise with kids is charged for it whether they use it or not. Would I pay it? NO. I would fight the charge. So, why don't more of us fight our medical charges? I do because I pay out of pocket. We pay about $15,000 per year for our private medical premiums and deductibles. So, I do care about every dollar on our bills. And maybe it is not that I am mad because I was charged for something I didn't use - because I know you all are like, OH MY GOD she is turning into a republican, I just want to know why it costs $1250 per night for a hospital nursery bed? That is crazy and I want to know how our medical costs have gotten so high. I want to know why I get angry every time I see a prescription drug ad on T.V. I pretty much have seen enough 60 year old naked couples sitting in bathtubs on the beach talking about their erectile dysfunction to last me a lifetime thankyouverymuch.

So I wrote to him to let him know that I am glad he is doing SOMETHING because it is a crisis and needs be solved. Do I think he is right about everything, even though I voted for him? NO. But something needs to be done about the cost and conscious of health care in this country. So I wrote to him.

Tomorrow I promise to talk about shopping.
xoxo,t