Stress? What stress?

It's the traffic and the trains and the economy and this crazy presidential election and the constant bombardment of catastrophic possibilities on the television and on the radio and in the newspapers and oh yes a war in which families are buying bullets for their children and husbands and wives because the country for which they are fighting can't afford to outfit its army and how long will health care be available at all and will my home have any sort of resale value this time next year sort of stuff. Then the dog got an infection because he got nervous and licked his paw raw. When the ordinarily mellow dog becomes so stressed that he can't stop licking his paw, it is truly time to take a break.
Tonight about an hour before sunset the computers and the television and the radio go off. They will not be turned back on until about an hour after sunset Saturday. We will make a concerted effort toward calm.
Stop. Let go. Slow down.
Come a couple of hours after sunset tomorrow evening we will take a deep breath and again focus on helping each other step back from the edge.
And together, we can do it.