Oh, Dilemma

I find myself on the horns of a dilemma. (Really, what an odd phrase. Does anyone still use that phrase or just antiquated me?) I happen to have in my possession a Romney/Ryan yard sign. And I would truly love to put said sign out in my yard to combat the fact that the only signs I've seen around the neighborhood are for the other guy (though even those are few and far between).

But (here's the issue), I happen to know for certain that the parents of the only little boy that the elder boy ever gets to play with in our 'hood is rooting for the other side and, while we've so far managed to successfully leave politics out of our acquaintance (despite her not-so-veiled rolled eyes when she sees my choose life license plate), I suspect having a yard sign out while the kids are running around might just cap it.

As I've already managed to lose the elder boy his prior friend in our neighborhood (as his mom is the mom at MOPS who got so bent out of shape that I didn't want the elder boy getting riled up prior to going off to childcare and she's never spoken to me (or made direct eye contact with me) since), I hesitate to do something I'm reasonably sure will cost him the only friend he has who lives close.

It's right up there with heartbreaking to have to explain to your child that no, we can't stop by so-and-so's house to see if he wants to play. Why? Well, his mommy doesn't like mommy. Why does that mean the two of you can't still be friends? Because life is a horribly unfair place where grown ups don't always act like grown ups, I guess. (I'll be clear, I'd be perfectly fine being polite and letting the boys play. She's made it clear this isn't going to happen.) And even though it's now been just over a year, the elder boy still asks about this boy. So again - really don't want to do it to him again.

On the flip side...really want to put the sign in my yard, even if the only thing it's going to do is let people know that, hey, not everyone around here is satisfied with the status quo. (Because honestly, I suspect most people in our neighborhood, if forced to put a sign up, would choose the other one.) (Also, I'm pretty sure yard signs don't actually influence anyone to vote a particular way, so I suppose one could question the usefulness of them.)

Honestly, at what point do women grow out of middle school behavior? It seems ridiculous that I'm even having to think about it this hard. I just figure with my track record, I probably ought to.