I keep reading these comments about life changing wonderful days, and I have to admit that for me, today was wonderful at times, but also pretty miserable. I was inspired and hopeful. I was also cold, wet, confined, and we stood around for WAY WAY too long in the freezing, pouring rain before marching. My purse weighed a thousand pounds and I had one kid having a crowd panic attack in the middle of a hundred thousand people and another who continuously whined the entire four hours. We could not get on public transportation on the way home so we walked all the way home, while I bribed my kids with chocolate to keep walking the way I used to when they were toddlers (HUGE hats off to mamas of babies and toddlers out there today). It was not a fun day. I’m willing to bet that many, many people had similar experiences at a January march all over the world. So of the 2.5 million estimated people out there today, lots were just as uncomfortable and anxious and cranky as I was at points. And you know what – this is what happens when you show up even though the weather is no good and you are exhausted from a horrendous work week and you just don’t wanna. But you do. And when enough of us do, it ends up being millions of us, and this is probably the biggest thing I got out of today. SHOW UP. And I don’t necessarily mean at marches, I mean showing up for the things we care about in our lives. Some people showed up in other ways today rather than marching – same deal – they showed up. There is a lot of work we will have to do over the next little while and it can’t get done if we don’t show up. I’ve seen questions and speculations about the “true” numbers that marched today, and my assessment of how many people showed up today: enough. Enough. So today wasn’t so great, but name the day of the next one, and rain or shine, I’ll be there..