A little rain and a little hope

Tonight I attended a protest against Brett Kavanaugh.  I truly believe that Kavanaugh is the wrong choice for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court.  I thought this before Christine Blakey Ford came on the scene with sexual assault allegations.  Kavanaugh is wrong because of his stance on abortion, birth control and the fact that he had lied to congress about other things.

I stood on the corner of First Steet and Neal in my little town of Pleasanton.  Pleasanton is a pretty affluent community, I can't even tell you how many Tesla's and Mercedes drove by this corner in an hour.  One of the things that amazed me the most were the women that drove by and did nothing.  They looked straight ahead and pretended not to see our signs.  

There were the usual honking of horns from both men and women.  There was the old white man that drove by in his 30 year old Mercedes wearing his MAGA hat that yelled "you are all stupid".  Or the young man in his Lexis SUV who told me I was being duped.  Or the man in his mini van yelling "go trump.  Thanks for the tax breaks!  Yeah".  Then there was the one lone woman that screamed "you people look fucking stupid".

I guess when you stand on a street corner you get the good with the bad.

The hope?  Two young girls walked up and asked what was going on.  A woman standing next to me says "we are protesting Kavanaugh.  Are you old enough to vote?  You need to register"

The girls said they were not old enough to vote, but still wanted to know who this person was.

So I stepped over to them and said " we are protesting a man named Brett Kavanaugh that has been put up to be on the Supreme Court. He is a man that does not believe in birth control - he thinks it is a form of abortion.  He does not believe in safe and legal abortion.  He has had multiple accusations of sexual assault leveled against him and he will not take a polygraph test to address these accusations and we do not feel he should be on the Supreme Court."

They listed and as I watched their eyes get really big - especially when I mentioned birth control - they thanked me and went on their way.  Hopefully to go home and ask questions and learn more, but maybe if they just think about it, that is enough for now.

And then it started to rain.  Really rain.  Not just a sprinkle or a shower, but a downpour and we continued to stand with our signs until it got dark and we had to leave.

Unforgettable

Last week I was in Rhode Island, lets just say it was not for a happy occassion.  However, being able to spend time with my mother is always good, frustrating sometimes, but good.  Jackie lives is assisted living with many other elderly people.  On one particular day after taking her home, they had a musician performing for the residents.  We went down to listen and he had a beautiful voice and would sing the requests from his audience.

One request was Unforgettable.  He started to sing and many of the people around me started to sing with him.  Most softly and whistfully.

I watched one woman across the way.  I have seen her around but have never spoken to her.  She was a small woman with totally white hair that she wore at about shoulder length that she held back with a headband that matched her outfit.

She sat there and swayed and I could see her mouthing the words to the song.  I could see a change in her, I swear I could see her feel sad.  I wondered who she was thinking about as she sang

"Unforgettable, that's what you are"

I wondered about her life and where her Unforgettable you was.