the MARCH, i saw faces faces faces and i thought, That! is her….That is her and it WAS. It really WAS. All those women, they were HER, they were YOU, Cynthia….and this morning i see that this is SO.
"the word passed…there are too many of us to march….we have filled all the spaces….the march is this…we are here…we are the march….and the crowd settled."
ONE HEART, ONE WOMAN, ONE SISTER.
this is her sandwich board
on my Morning Wall. My Sisters. Family.
the mending begins with so much love for our beautiful broken world
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I’m weeping–I love–It just pours through me liked spilled molasses–thick and sweet–I can’t sleep–the euphroia lingers
it tingles my fingers–makes my toes start to dance. Tra laaaaa.
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This is just great! And a sandwich board … of course, why didnt I think of that!
Though we missed showing up this past weekend (being needed on the home front) there will be another opportunity on April 15. We plan to be there.
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We had so much fun together making the sandwich boards..we all brought posters and markers..twine and scissors….and there was such a good list of what was and was not going to be allowed..people were so creative with how to have safe signage.
.the storm has hit us hard..the power..our phone and connectivity with the outside world is tenuous right now..and i listen ..on and off ..to wonderful music and women speaking on vpr..i also get snippets from pundits and newscasters..trying to balance the inauguration and the march..trying to compare what happened Saturday to a variety of groups..and it is very soothing to come here. instead…to be surprised seeing our picture pop up..
because ..they ” ..and i hate sweeping divisions like that..have missed so much of what was there..not just the joy and the unity..but the amazing strength..the intention ..of the women there..i snapped off the wondering of “well i hope they had some way to contact these women after this weekend..”and the wondering if we could..”can this group of women make it past this first step ” on the early morning shows..
i think of how our small group of four talked in the car on the way home..deciding..or trying to decide where each of us wanted to put our energy..sometimes it was the same area..sometimes not..and i have downloaded the file to print my postcards and i have found my indivisible group..not so very far away..i have already a commitment made..i have been working with Rutland welcomes..as we are supposed to get 20 Syrian families ..hopefully in a matter of weeks..it has been a long year of work preparing for them..
so my mind is not darting..but considering..trying to balance the reality of being here on the hill in the middle of nowhere..and the warmth and energy that was so needed ..and provided by this past weekend..and the very real and somehow always surprising fact that i was beyond tired yesterday..that i still think of myself as an earlier version of myself…and then i am simply grateful..that we went nonstop for 72 hours more or less…and being happy that walking and down the terrain here is way more hazardous than the pretty flat streets of washington…and making space to add in the reality of myself at 69..not so old..but definitely not 30…
anyway..yes exactly..the mending begins..this is the time to stop and think and begin..22 months until the midterms..and really i just want to go upstairs and work on a baby quilt while the storm rages..and that is what i will do today..and order the potatoes and plan the garden and dream of what is to be ..i can hear the sound of the truck down below..it will work its way up our hill..grading the dirt..making it ..i hope ..drive-able in a little while..it isn’t right now..and now it is light enough to see that one of the big tarps in the garden is being torn to shreds by the storm..and there is nothing but ice between the house and that part of the yard..i hope it holds..because i will not be out there until there are some safer places to walk..even with my yaktrax on my boots..i have become so much more cautious..
i must admit..there is a niceness to this..we are safe and protected and truly enclosed by this storm..so i can focus on the part of the balance that is simply here..and the internet is up right now..and i think about this group of women..right here.. such quiet strength..and joy and creativity..and experience…filling all the spaces..we are the march..that is what ” they ” are so missing..gentle day
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Seeing Cynthia’s face and those of her family brought home, the beauty of Jan. 21, 2017. All together, all going forward, connecting all across the land and the world. Thank you grace and Cynthia for sharing these heart filling photos.
Listening to news anchors and pundits last night, the focused question was on what comes next, how can this movement be sustained. The answer lies in each and everyone of us but also, plans are in place. The Action Network who registered marchers sent an email to all of us who rsvp’d. The first action/plan is for 10 actions within the first 100 days. First action is to send postcards to your Senators expressing concerns and what matters to you. (You can download their template or create your own)
https://www.womensmarch.com/100/
I have been in contact with my local Senators and Congressman since the first of this year over the cabinet nominations, over concerns re Social Security and Medicare and have made a commitment to contact them every week. But now I’m also turning my focus locally. I don’t own a house here in Rio Rancho, am a renter so don’t contribute property taxes but I do shop locally. The mayor of Rio Rancho is holding a town hall meeting for our area on Feb. 13th- I intend to be there.
School board elections do not get many voters here and I admit, since I don’t have children in the local schools, I have only given these elections a passing glance. I intend to do better because as of 2015, New Mexico ranked 49th in quality of education and we have a Governor who cuts education funding consistently. Our children are our future, they deserve a good education. I feel ashamed that I have not concerned myself before now because if my grandchildren lived here, I would be all over this. I will vote in the school board election on Feb. 7th.
It starts with that first local step as well as many national ones, as we witnessed on Jan. 21st. Before you know it, a trail has been formed and I intend for my steps to lead all the way to the mid-terms and beyond.
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sisters 🌸🌸🌸
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So good this marching is international – and even one down here in Devon England! Barnstaple, sadly I couldn’t go but it’s made me happy. On my mother’s birthday too.
Love the photo and those beautiful strong faces.
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My young friend was in Washington and she said, yes, there were so many that it took an hour and a half to move a quarter mile. Rivers of women.
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Do any of you remember?
The Million Mom March was a rally held on Mother’s Day, May 14, 2000 in the Washington D.C. National Mall to promote tighter gun security. Over a million people participated nationwide. I was at the March in Chicago. Do you remember the result?
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it’s our broken selves
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it’s Thursday and the euphoria has settled, but remains as
the bedrock.
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i will look forward to Hearing
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your 20 families….will they be allowed to come? i PRAY.
i am just going to use that word, PRAY. because the verb
of it is good enough for the fervent ness….
i pray.
i am so so grateFULL for your words…..
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YES. absolutely. LOCAL. YES. maybe that’s what we All are
coming to understand.
and YES….the town hall meetings. SO MUCH. YES YES YES!
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we are LOVE
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those faces….i just drank them in, filled myself with them
Everywhere, we are beginning to understand what the stakes are
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tears come to my eyes at the words Rivers of women….
may We FLOW
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the result is on going….there was education and civil discourse, dialogue nothing sweeping, but nothing not gained by the
EFFORT…Rebecca Solnit points out how things take TIME
TELL US PLEASE, your thoughts of this??????????????????
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Ah, Grace. Yes, time. But how I think today…762 people murdered in Chicago (my home town) in 2016. If background checks were enforced for gun purchases, would there have been 761 people, 760? It’s difficult to escape the local nightly news, the statistics.
Maybe I should turn off the TV and read Rebecca Solnit instead.
Respectfully.
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windthread 
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