WHAT A DAY (!!)

What a day! 

I couldn't have asked for anything better. 

HUGE turnout.

Energy through the roof.

Community.

Kindness. 

What a lift for our spirits. 

I met wonderful people. A Muslim mother and her daughters on the way to a festival stopped to protest. We exchanged numbers and her story is beautiful. Almost 90 year old women who needed a bit of medical TLC at the end. Said they haven't been able to attend a NK protest because there wasn't a local one. They stayed the entire time. And so many more stories ...

Every kind of diversity. And every kind of kindness to each other.

THIS is the country I want. I could cry thinking about the goodness that showed up.

Semi-trucks coordinating their air horns at the light to join the chant beat. 

People cheering and clapping from car windows. 

So many happy car horns.

(Very, very few angry cars.)

The clever signs. And costumes. 

The little kids with their parents.

Teenagers fully engaged.

Seniors.

Dogs with signs. 

Wheelchairs.

Walkers.

Leg casts.

People who were heading to another protest.

People who didn't know, drove by, stopped, and JOINED.

They all came.

I brought one sign and shared it with an older woman with mobility issues. Helped her set up and she wanted the sign. She stayed the entire time too. She came by herself, brought a new walker so it had a chair seat and apologized for not having a sign. Seriously?? This is the kind of people who showed up in droves. The efforts they made to be there in person.

The protest hadn't even started.
And she was there and ready.
An hour early.

I want to hold onto this feeling. Why can't THIS be how we gather? 

Maybe we should dare to dream it so and then take ACTION to make it so.

I hope you experienced this feeling of community and collective love too -- wherever and however you were able to show up.

Later gators.