Today we celebrate International Women’s Day, a day with roots in the civil, labor, immigrant rights, suffrage, and peace movements worldwide. Read more here.

Thank you, Mike Rhode, at ComicsDC, for the thought-provoking story alert.

I will spend my day wearing red in solidarity, writing letters to my representatives voicing my concerns about the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, allowing my son to do his own laundry and to make our meals, and spending money only at businesses owned by women.

Fellas, I love ya, but I don’t want my life decisions, particularly the more personal- such as my physical well-being, made by you.

I’m looking to others for inspiration this year, as I am falling short on thankfulness. I feel it in my head, but my heart is a reluctant follower. Some years are like that, a contrast that magnifies the swelling when heartfelt thankfulness does kick in. Typing now, reflecting on the ebbs and flows of happiness, my heart has perked up, a faint slow thrumming in the far corner of one ventrical.

A meal with family and friend-family is sure to kick up the warmth deep down. Is that not the key service of tradition, a trigger to connectedness and interior calm? Jeez, I hope it clicks today. It’s been a tough year in so many ways for so many.

But, as has been remarked many, many times recently, Mother Nature continues to awe us, outside and in – the beautiful trees, the changing skies, the delicious food coming to our tables from gardens and farms.

We may not be able to ask for a command performance of thankfulness, but we can wait patiently, with a place set.

Epic!

I took those bites with gladness and I made a joyful noise. It’s a tomato sandwich, for heaven’s sakes. Plus, I had the sandwich in my hand and someone had to do it. For the sake of the picture. Mmm-mmm, it had been too long.

Down in Richmond, that’s the place to eat a tomato sandwich. Did they not originate in the Central Virginia region? Down in Tim Kaine territory. Love that man and am so sorry he is not moving to DC in January.

Photo by Jeff Saxman

Could this stylist be identified by her dental records? Perhaps. My teeth have not moved, but my lips sure have. It was a tentative smile last week, cautiously optimistic that this country would elect our first woman president. Were I to take a bite of this sandwich today, it would be tear-salted and upside down.

I hope we can all find our common ground, beginning at the beginning, communing with simple food, say a tomato sandwich and on from there, to trust, generosity, and love for all. We’ve got to get resilient, accept what is obsolete, adjust, adapt, reach out, carry on.

Today,  my gladness is in mourning and my joy is blunted. Give me a little time and a little sustenance. You take some, too. Then we will get back at it together, pack ourselves a sturdy lunch and bring on the love. En masse.