Art Marks, Vermont March, and Bernie Sanders

Montpelier, Vermont, January 21, 2017 — filled, like so many other places, with people coming together to show unity around equal rights, kindness, and moving forward together. Vermont is a small state, and I believe the Montpelier population is 8-10,000 people. There are estimates of 15,000-20,000 folks that showed up for the rally. There were signs and banners and music and children and dogs and ... us.  Myself, my partner, one of my best friends, her daughter, and daughter's friend. I made hats for all of us, and armed with posters we marched along the fringe of the parade, towards the beginning, and then stood across the street from our capitol and watched people congregate on the statehouse lawn. And watched. And watched. So many people.

We could barely hear what most of the speakers were saying, so we people watched, had our photos taken, and chatted amongst ourselves. Then there was a bustle of activity near the podium, and a voice we all knew boomed out over the crowd "THANK YOU" and the crowd burst into yells of delight, and probably a few tears. Bernie Sanders, indeed, had come home to be with us. He spoke with the passion he is known for, straight and to the point, about us joining together . . . but for a moment he was truly just ours.

It felt good to be there.

Today is Normal Life again. With a heightened awareness perhaps, but revolving around giving the dog a bath (8 pound blind poodles turn into whirling dervishes when you try and wash them, so "giving the dog a bath" also includes cleaning the bathroom, changing out all the towels, and usually taking a shower myself), filling the bird feeders, doing laundry, and getting caught up on Stuff.

Including the Art Marks Challenge! I'm still doing it. Today I am doing 2 days worth. Yesterday's prompt was "Dozens..." sort of a no-brainer...