Castle in the air

I'm sitting in a Starbucks in Edinburgh, looking up at the castle, and wondering exactly what I have to come home to. My cats, my stuff, my friends, my family, sure. But I'm having a lot of trouble justifying the idea of raising my kid in a country that's so clearly hostile to my own values. For the first couple days after the election I just avoided the news altogether and told people over here that I didn't want to talk about it. Now I'm coming to terms with it, and man is it awful. You figure that the left threw everything it had at Bush, and the result is depressingly clear.

It's interesting being in a different country and talking about the so-called moral issues that swung the election rightward. I'm in a place where taxes are high, but new parents get six months paid leave guaranteed. There's plenty of vacation time, and as irritating as I find it that so many stores are closed on Sundays, the fact that there's a day set aside for family is kind of touching. Talk about your family values.

That's right, I'm at a Starbucks. I'm always gonna be American, whether I live there or not.