Oh, lordy. Anyone who knows me well knows how hard it’s been for me to stay away from politics in The Lolly Diaries. This has been a hard, infernal and eternal election cycle, and, dammit, it needs to be over. What the world needs now is love and healing – and lots of it.

If I could transport us back to Shindig, or at least to the good old days before Citizens United turned our country inside out and upside down, believe me, I would. The adults who are driven to distraction by the constant negativity (and constant poll checking and TV news watching) need a do-over, but I’d mainly do it for the grandchildren, whose futures are still in our hands.

Monday our fourth grandchild will arrive (assuming he doesn’t decide to pop in early), little Luke, baby brother to Annabelle. In April, grandchild 5 will make his debut, baby brother to Jude and Sylvia. We need to grow up as a nation so they can grow up with futures worth living.

(I could so get on my global-warming, no-nuking soapbox here, but I won’t. I’m clenching my teeth with effort, but I won’t. Deep breaths. Deep breaths.)

My recent trip to Washington was in part to free my sister-in-law, Kitty, to run off to the Tri-Cities for the birth of her precious newby, little Regan. Regan is Kitty’s baby Brett’s firstborn – an easy-dispositioned honey who deserves to grow up in a country run by rational adults.

Baby Regan gets acquainted with her Nana.

Brett, Kitty and Regan – three generations.

I also got to be part of the October birthday celebration at an assisted-living facility, in which my mother-in-law, Doris, was one of the honorees. At 91, she comes from a much more genteel time.

The 91-year-old birthday girl and her beautiful daughter guarantee little Regan has good genes.

One can only hope we can regain some gentility in the country.

Tomorrow I’ll be baking a victory cake – it’ll be a round reprise of the one I baked in 2008. We’ll have Blue Champagne Cocktails at hand. I hope to heck (and expect) that we’ll be celebrating. But either way, can we please, please grow up?