briefly, or not, as it turns out...

Hi.

Great weekend up north with the girlfriends.  One of my all-time favorite people in the world is a part of the group, and the rest of them are quite fine also.  As predicted, there were lots of laughs, some euchre/dirty clubs playing, and even some fairly innocent shananigans in a bar or two.  We sat for hours, or so it seemed, in the outdoor hot tub Saturday morning.  We kept abreast of the unfolding events in Madison, as best we could.  We even had a good old fashioned snowstorm to drive through on the way home.  Perfect weekend.

I am reading Raising Happiness and the first section talks about the importance of filling your own gas tank first before you can fill your child's tank.  Is that the analogy?  Or maybe it's putting on your own oxygen mask first.  Either way, you gotta make yourself happy before you can make someone else happy.  Good stuff to think about.  I kind of lost sight of that in my early years of parenting, but I feel like I have a better balance of it all now.

Speaking of balance, I continue to be obsessed with the events at the state capitol in Madison.  (get my irony?  nothing balanced at all about my obsession.)  We went again yesterday afternoon to protest.  Wish I would have taken pictures of the piles of blankets and pillows neatly tucked away in corners of the capitol building, or pictures of the thousands of signs all over, showing support from Detroit, from San Francisco, from Baltimore.  (Baltimore, Mark!!!)

The crowd was down from days earlier, but still there were thousands of people there.  We sang "This land is your land" together.  We chanted "This is what democracy looks like" when a (small) group of Students for Walker came to talk.  The crowd began to boo, and then we chanted to give them a chance to talk.  Because?  That's what we're talking about.  Letting both sides get a chance to speak.  So, we respectfully listened to their side, and then went back to protesting.  It was a powerful moment and one I was proud to share with my sons.

Ian's Pizza, a nearby great, local pizza joint, is so busy delivering pizzas to the capitol that they have shut down, so I've heard, for normal business.  When we were at the capitol yesterday, a man offered pizza to my kids.  They gladly took a piece, and he said, "this one is from Arizona."  People from all over the world are phoning in, offering to pay for pizzas to keep the protesters fed.  There are bags of fruit and bottles of water around, free for the grabbing.  We found a box of earplugs taped to the wall.  (It is very loud inside.)  There is a sign-up sheet for the sleepover.  We saw a sign asking protesters to please sleep on the ground, first and second floors only, please.

Police officers are abundant and look rather bored.  8 days now of protest and only 4 arrests.  The vibe is peaceful, yet spirited.  Lots of drumming, shaking of musical instruments, even a horn or two that we first learned of at that soccer tournament in S. Africa, was it?  People look weary, but determined.  Settled in.  Not going anywhere.  Organized and orderly.

I ran into several friends/acquaintances from my many walks of life.  Lots of hugs, "power to the peoples", even a "si, se puede".  We visited the office of one of the Wisconsin 14 where a friend of ours works.  She looked exhausted but still had her silly sense of humor.  She chatted briefly between phone calls - at least one of which was with "our guy on the lam".

At our bi-monthly (is that right?  does that mean twice a month of every 2 months?  I mean twice a month) staff mtg this morning, we went around the room to do a "check in".  Most people give a little update about what is going on in their lives - health issues, or vacation plans - and I've normally stayed pretty quiet.  Couldn't today though.  I started talking about the protests and encouraged people to go up to the capitol and check it out.  It's history in the making.  I've never seen anything like it, nor do I expect to again.  If you think you may have a kernel of interest in what's going on, I tell you, once you set foot in that building, your interest will ignite.  It's contageous, the spirit that's going on there.  If you aren't able to go, please watch this video.  It captures the essence so beautifully.

I could go on and on.  I did go on and on.  It was a bummer, figuring out childcare plans for my kids while the schools shut down for 4 days, but, as a wise friend of mine said, justice sometimes takes sacrifice.  When my second grader returned to school today, the entire staff of teachers were outside, welcoming the kids at the curb, and waving to the parents dropping off.  That is what is so moving.  We are all in this together.  We support each other.  Together, we will figure this out.