On Saturday, I participated in our local Women’s march. This year, politics was so full of hate and division. Depressing, really. People actually marched for all kinds of reasons. Not everyone was there for the same reason, but I have to say that the feeling at this march was just joy and love. Seriously! It was a pretty amazing feeling. People gathered and strangers all talked, intermingled and hugged each other. It was so powerful!
There was a good amount of men in the march as well, including Joh). I have to admit that when I decided to do this march in our small town, I kind of figured that there would be maybe a couple dozen people and I thought there would be more people hurling insults than marching. The flyer for the march said marchers would meet in the library after for hot cocoa and a talk. Boy was I mistaken!
I brought my list of people who gave me their names to march with in my pocket. When we got there, a good crowd had already formed. John and I went into a parking lot behind a building where we were sort of being corralled, so we couldn’t see much after that point of how many people were arriving. I was surprised at how many people were there already.
We ran into a couple of my fellow volunteers at the Chapman, but ended up losing sight of them once the march got going. My sister also came and thanks to cell phones and texts, we were able to find each other before it started. It’s hard to remember how difficult it was to coordinate things way back in the day before cell phones LOL!
Ground rules were laid down for the march. Stay out of the road, no engaging with any counter protesters and be respectful. There weren’t very many counter protesters. I think maybe 8 or so across the street, but they were quiet and no one bothered them. As we started spilling out into the march, it was pretty obvious that there was a lot of people! It was about half a mile of walking and people were on both sides of the street. It was a little difficult to not disrupt traffic a bit because of the size of the march, but everyone seemed pretty conscious to accomodate cars and thank them for waiting. Many (included myself) also thanked the police officers that were stationed around to make sure all was orderly. Like I said, this was very inclusive and positive!
As we moved towards the library, the organizers were waving us past saying we would meet in the park because there was no way everyone would fit into the library. Needless to say, they didn’t make enough cocoa. LOL!
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The organizers expected about 150 people and today the estimates came in – about 1500 people showed up! I knew it was a lot, but that was amazing. I do have to say, though, that reading comments on the article in the paper makes you understand why we need to be marching and that some people really don’t get the purpose. It was such a positive experience and what a great thing a free country is that citizens can gather and peacefully demonstrate! Whether you agree with the march or not, I think we can all agree about that.
After the march, it was back to projects. Never a dull moment around here. It was time to do the countertop at my parents’ house. I have been doing most of the work, but for the counter I needed John’s help or it would have taken for-ever. Old counter:
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It’s in good shape, but just dated. We got the counter out undamaged so someone will be able to use it.
The rest of Saturday was spent laying down the new base for laminate. Then on Sunday, we cut and glued the laminate down and routed all the edges. Ta da!
This laminate was ordered through Lowes. It is Formica brand Argento Romano. It really looks nice!
The backsplash will be tile and obviously the lower cabinets still need paint, but that was a huge part of the project completed. I have to say laminate is not one of my favorite projects. There isn’t a lot of room for error and no fudging LOL! Now we’re starting to see the final look of the kitchen. My parents have been very patient with my limited time to be working there and finishing.
It seems like the turnout at many of the marches was higher than expected. Our little town in the Northern Shenandoah Valley expected about 100 people and there were over 1,000! Pretty neat to see. I live in a very conservative corner of the state. It was amazing to see all the people who come out to stand up for everyone’s rights.
It seems like that is the case all over! Crazy.
I was so so sad on friday and REALLY DIDNT THINK saturday and marches/marching would help.
It was 100% what I needed here too.
Today? the work begins.
xo
Yay! What a wonderful experience! I’ve heard the turn outs were way beyond expected too!
The counters look just beautiful!
Thank you! We were happy with how the counters turned out.
I’m really impressed that the numbers of the marches were much higher than anticipated. It’s a beautiful thing to see so many people come together like this – glad you went and had such a great experience!
My city also held a peace march. Like yours we expected maybe 50-100 and it was more like 1200 that came out. Lots of families and some great community spirit. I hope it makes an impact, but at least it was something positive amongst so much negativity in politics lately.
The positive peaceful feeling was the best, don’t you think?
That is so great! I’m glad you went and that the turn out was more than expected. I think that was the case everywhere…here in Portland they were expecting about 20,000 and over 100,000 showed! It was 100% peaceful, there were no arrests. It was a great, positive energy.
Also, I love that you guys were going to meet up at the library for cocoa afterward!! <3
That is a huge amount of people! So glad it was peaceful, too.
The numbers up here in Canada were bigger than expected! We support you, and support all human rights. (like you, I wasn’t particularly there for politics, but for simple human rights for all) Friday I felt sad, Saturday, I felt hopeful!!! The energy, the peace and the solidarity was fantastic and I felt lucky I could be part of it!
Thanks Roz!
Fantastic!! It’s heartening to see the statistics and photos from marches around the country and world. I was in the crush in DC and can also say while everyone was there for different reasons, the overriding theme was respect and justice for all. It was amazing.
The kitchen is really coming together nicely. Such a lovely thing you are doing for your parents!
It is. Makes you feel not alone, you know?
OMG Lori – love this so much & how many turned out & the peaceful nature!!!!!!! LOVE!!!!
That counter looks fantastic!!!!!!
Glad that everything went so well. It’s been hard to feel hopeful at all, but this weekend helped enormously. Thank you to each of you who marched!
I think it’s great so many people all around the world were marching. It’s obvious they won’t be quiet and that’s good. I only hope the government will think about what happened and do something with it.
Hey there can’t be nothing wrong with that laminate with that name 🙂
Wow, what an amazing turnout! I am just catching up with you – my new job keeps me busy from the second I walk in, and it’s hard to comment on my phone on the train.
I think your parents kitchen is really looking good! I wish I was half as handy as you. Enjoy your weekend, hope your computer issues get fixed soon. My Mac Book Pro won’t hold a charge, I need to have it plugged in all the time – which is fine, I don’t normally take it anywhere, but still kind of a pain.