Yes, I obviously put that as my title because I love the show…also because I not so secretly think I would be amazing at the game-except for at the beginning when its a populairity game and they suspect you on weird shit like the way you roll your eyes, or the decibel you speak at.

Anyway to the point of this post…I posted my last post knowing that the majority of my friends, and therefore those of you that read this blog, had not sent your child to the local school. Or in the case of a few you had and it hadn’t gone well. Did I know it was going to annoy some of you? Yes. Did I think some of you would feel misunderstood by me? Also Yes. Did I do it to make you feel bad, or in a weird hope that you might change your mind? No. Was it about you and your choices? Not for the most part

So why post it then? If I was aware I might be misunderstood, and that I may cause upset and offence-shouldn’t I just keep my opinions to myself?

Well for me there are 2 main reasons that I posted-the first is that I have noticed since being in Bristol that schooling (like lots of other things in society) is becoming more and more polarised and this deeply worries me. As I mentioned in the previous post, people had directly told me that they didn’t look at our local school because of opinions about the current school community. The fact that they didn’t come and look around for themselves seems to me to be just evidence that assumptions and prejudices are becoming far too authoritative in our minds. I guess I just wanted to challenge that and publicly say I disagreed.

Secondly, we don’t all think the same and that is not what makes us friends. What makes us friends is that we have shared history, admiration, respect, love for each other. I think some of us have got confused about the fact that as friends we can disagree, and I include myself in that. There have been times where I have thought ‘well I thought they were a good friend but I am not sure now because I have heard them say …, and who the heck can think that?’

How limiting and restrictive of me. We can disagree, we can question each others choices and still think the world of each other.

So if it wasn’t clear before let me be crystal about it now-If you are my friend, it is not based on the way you educate your kids, the diet/lifestyle choices you follow, your financial situation, the way you vote, or even, God Forbid, if you do not appreciate the (I would argue undeniable) talent of Dolly Parton-it is because I like you.

I can argue about things until the cows come home, its the way I was raised, its in my blood. As my husband and sister-in-law would suggest its just in our special nature to hold a strong opinion about every single thing in our family (and til make that point until we are blue in the face, and then next time we meet to argue the other side of it).

I was raised in a church-where lots of people think VERY differently to me on MANY things-but my overwhelming takeaway from my childhood was that I was held and loved always. Maybe we were trauma bonded from tambourine dance groups and conga lines at worship times? No seriously, the grace that people showed each other when dealing with differing opinions because generally they knew that loving God and each other was the main priority.

So lets not hide our difference of opinions or doubts, especially not out of fear that we will be isolated because of them, because the truest friends just hang on in there, like a loyal lassie.

Lassie, looks a bit scary here…did she set up her ‘hero moments’? Did she push Timmy down the well?