Skip to main content

March Madness


The March on Washington was one of the most powerful and positive experiences in my life - all 56 years of this life. And this post, I have to warn you, will be as disjointed as the March!

 I got to go with Matthew!! And we weren't sure if Delaney was going to be able to join us, but were thrilled that she could. She got to our hotel about 6:30 am having driven all night with two of her friends. After less than an hour, we all piled into the Subaru and began our trek through the complicated and congested DC highways and byways. After our drive Friday along the tollway through Ohio and Pennsylvania, where we encountered many many many others also going to DC and the March - I wasn't surprised by the traffic or the packed-to-the-gills Metro on Saturday morning. What did surprise me, however, was that once we got to within a mile of the March, there were more people than I had ever seen in one place.



Okay so the last picture wasn't taken at the March - but it seems fitting.

Being in a wheelchair, I didn't see much. (a lot of backs and backsides!) But I heard the speakers and performers. I was brought to tears by Gloria Steinem, an adorable and well-spoken girl named Sophie, a poet paying tribute to her mother the freedom fighter, a pastor from the Ray of Hope Christian church, Alicia Keys, Madonna and so many others. 

But the best (aside from being with Matthew and Delaney) was meeting people from all over the country. Including the women from North carolina who watched out for me in the line for the porta-potties (the most disgusting I have ever ever ever used in my 56 years). And one of the funniest side-stories I read was that the company that supplied the portapotties was called Don's Johns- and this is what happened:



The crowds were peaceful and cooperative - even though they numbered about a million.

 I met one young man - Dylan - who was in a stroller. His mom kept the stroller alongside my wheelchair so that there was extra room. Well that was fortuitous because Dylan and I began comparing our strollers. His was blue, mine was red. His had eight wheels, mine only four. All of his tires were the same size, mine were different sizes. His had a hood, mine did not. He was at the March because he was sick and his mom made him go instead of staying home with a babysitter. He asked if I was sick too, and I told him that I was feeling okay and wanted to be here. 

 I met a mom and daughter from Kalamazoo who were glad to see me in my wheelchair because it provided a small 'pocket' of air for the mom who was claustrophobic. And there weren't a lot of places to move or be in this crowd if you were claustrophobic - so I had a delightful conversation with the mom and daughter (mom mostly) as we waited for the march to begin moving.

 There were four exchange students from the UK who were studying at Mary - land. One of the students actually called it Mary Land and was then corrected by another - "You twit, it's Maryland!" They had come the day before to attend the inauguration as well. "The crowd was angry and there weren't as many." They all spoke about how much they enjoyed the people they met at the March.

 There is a deeper, poignant post about the March. But I'm not going to publish it any time soon - I don't want to provide opportunities to sully my memories of this incredible human experience.

Comments

Post a Comment

It's not a popularity contest, but ...

The meaning of success and how

I sat down to write today about being cast/boot free. It is a joy to be back to my 'normal' state of mobility - which is to say that I stumble and totter like a drunken sailor but at least now I'm not wearing a big black boot. Ahoy matey! But instead, I came across the above quote and being easily distracted, I began to think about it instead. (Heck, I'm tired of the damn cast and don't want to waste anymore time thinking or writing about it anyway.) It's a quote my Aunt Bonnie first introduced me too when I graduated from high school and it's come on my radar many times since then, but today for some reason it has given me pause. I laugh often, to be sure. I'm like the uncle in Mary Poppins - I love to laugh. I surround myself with people that make me smile and laugh and am grateful for a husband that still knows how to make me laugh. I'm not to sure about winning the respect of intelligent people, though. I tend to think out of the box and...
Post a Comment
Read more

The summer that wasn't

It's July 30. Summer, right? Wrong!!! In Michigan, we had our summer two weeks ago for about 10 days. Saw a recent post on Facebook that read:"You know you're in Michigan when you wear your bathing suit on Monday and your parka on Tuesday." We sweltered for a week or two and then were chilled again. That's where we are now. Chilling at 70. Weather aside, it no longer feels much like summer. The back-to-school ads, commercials, displays and talk have begun full-force. And I feel like I just got used to having the three-not-so-little Piggins home again and now I have to get them ready for school. Delaney has a little longer, but Michael leaves for Wayne State law in two weeks and Matthew for his sophomore year at DePauw in three.  I get the nest re-feathered and damn these 'baby' birds but they stay for too short a time then fly away. *sigh* Since this is the "glass half full" blog of a pseudo-Pollyanna, I will revert to thinking positively ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The "I'll Nevers" of growing older

  Years ago as a freelance writer, I submitted an essay entitled "The I'll Nevers of Parenting". It was a list, mostly, of things I had said prior to having children and the crow I was then eating because of the stupidity of the claims. You know little pearls of 'wisdom' that only someone who hasn't experienced the joys of  parenting could utter, like: I will never yell at my child in public or I will never let my child eat dinner in front of the television or my children will never stay up past 9 pm. I yelled at my children (usually when we were both tired and totally irrational!) in public. One time, as we were in the drop off lane at school with a long line of cars behind us, the boys hoped out of the car but Delaney was insisting on something that for the life of me I cannot recall and I was insisting that she get out of the van. We crept along, van door still open, until I got to the end of the line and yelled at the top of my voice, "Delaney get the...
Post a Comment
Read more