Recently I was on vacation in Jamaica with my husband and his entire family, whom I adore. However, for this slightly liberal Independent it was not easy to survive a week with a house full of very conservative Republicans; one who actually worked on the Trump campaign and now works for the Energy Department in DC.

Let’s not forget my wonderful Father-in-law, who is the leader of this pack, and has sadly been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.This man walks around in sheer glee over the fact that HRC is not in the white house. Every day at Breakfast, lunch, and dinner, this once extremely intelligent, former banker for United Trust would ask over and over again, “what do you all thing Hillary is eating right now?” The answer, of course, was always, “Chardonnay and sour grapes.”

Please don’t misunderstand me, I love all of my in-laws but this week-long vacation that we have all been taking together for the past twelve years has not been easy on this liberal. I have had to endure Faux (Fox) news and some of the shows, well I am not forced but everyone else is watching them and I kind of just slip away to my room.

Last year, my father-in-law who is not anything like his old self, demanded that I sit and watch a President Trump press conference. I kindly decline and stated I was going to go to the beach. As I walked up the stairs to change into my bathing suit, I invited my Husband. My FIL stated that Ben wasn’t going anywhere! That he was going to sit and watch our president as everyone should!

This would have been fine with me, but my husband being a smart man came upstairs and got ready to go with me. I insisted he stay with his Dad after all this was his vacation too and I wanted him to spend quality time with his Dad. He just looked at me and smiled, “Happy wife, happy life!”

My in-laws are a group of extremely intelligent people, they like to call themselves Moderate Republicans, and they want what the current administration is trying to do. Although they don’t always agree with their methods, they do agree that things are getting done. How can one argue with them? Well, this one is just too smart to even attempt too.

That’s right, I have learned over the last eighteen years to just smile and grin at them all. I love and adore these people, why would I distant myself over politics? It’s a small price to pay for a week in a warm paradise that neither my husband or myself could swing by ourselves.

So, yes, I sell my soul to the devil once a year to enjoy the warm sun on my face and feel that sand in my toes. Do I regret it? Hell no! I get by simply because, in my mind’s eye, I see myself jump up on the tables and scream at them all. “What is wrong with you people? Can’t you see what is happening? I know you all better than this, and I know that you can’t just simply agree about what is happening in our country!”

See, I have also gotten smart over the years and I figure for just this one week if you can’t beat them, join them. It’s only for a short time, then we all kiss and hug goodbye and wish each other good things until we see each other again.

So, by the end of the week, I look across the table at my Father-in-law and ask him, “So, Poppy, what do you think Hillary is eating for Dinner tonight?” He looks back at me, and smiles as he giggles. I know that this has made him happy and this is what really matters this week in our tropical Paradise.