Monica,
I noticed your differences and your absence. 
Are you having some kind of second thoughts or different thoughts? If you are heading in a different direction I/we/ most of us would like to hear more. 
I believe that building community here is so needed to try to comprehend the strange  so called 'business' direction that the last two popes and the Super Rich and the GOP are driving us so successfully toward. 
My dear brother and sister are business Repubs. I only vote for the best person, never by political parties. 
But, since Bush I no longer vote for Repubs. 
Now, since Trump I am almost feeling sorry for the moderate Repubs like my brother and sister.
I hope these particular comments make sense to all and especially to you. For me the common good is so very important. That belief is driven by my occupation, for human beings and in memory of my grandparents who came over on the boat from Barrea, Italy and lost two children on that boat (my mothers side of the family) on boat