International Women's Day

There is much that comes to mind as I approach blogging regularly again for the first time in 4 years. Above all I am thinking of how this can be a meaningful, enjoyable and sustainable process. Perhaps the most important question to answer is: why blog in the first place? It's a question I have grappled with and have had numerous answers to in the past. But right now, in this moment of my life, I think what I want most of all is for this blog to be a reflection of our life right now. An accurate representation of our days and a documentation of family life. I think in the past it was very easy to wrap business ideas and blogging with a bigger goal or agenda in mind. Add blogging as writing practice in the mix and things are getting really messy quite quickly. All of this to say, I want this place to be a true and honest reflection of our life and our days right now, and I also want to be able to write without an agonizing amount of scrutiny on myself. I want to present my thoughts without a lot of proofreading and revising. That's not to say I do not want to present the most well crafted representation of my thoughts, not at all. But, I want to be realistic about the amount of time I can devote here in relationship to all of the other endeavors I would like to pursue. The truth is I could write, rewrite, revise and rewrite, and still think of a better way to phrase an idea at the end of it all. In no small part, this is about letting go of perfectionism and embracing the idea of living out loud, being unafraid to put it all out there and recognizing that the repetition of doing (practice) is what yields progress and skill development, not painstakingly crafting one piece of perfect writing for multiple hours. Not to mention, the former is worlds more enjoyable. So, I'm easing up, feeling lighter, and learning to enjoy the process. I hope these concepts are reflected in my writing.

Yesterday was International Women's Day so we made some signs, grabbed some yarn and headed downtown to the Federal Building for a rally and knit in. I didn't need much convincing, I mean, really they had me at "knit in." But practically speaking, one does not get much knitting done when you are escorting 6 children under 7 downtown. 

Rylie decided quite quickly what she wanted her sign to say. Otis said he wanted his sign to say, "Love You, Love Otis." Rylie said it should say something about girls since it was International Women's Day, so they decided on "Love Girls." Otis made a second sign that read "Love Birdies." He is absolutely smitten with all the birds visiting our feeders right now. Who was I to tell him that wasn't really a protest sign?

There were a good number of women and men at the strike, inspiring messages and a beautiful vibe of people coming together for a common cause. There were a few children and everyone was peaceably demonstrating. I heard a woman speaking about how feminists have been marching on March 8th for decades and in the 70s they would start the march downtown and stop and protest in front of every building that oppressed women. Needless to say, it was a very long day. 

Our crew of feminist protestors was happy to represent. They like to see all the people, joining in solidarity, uniting and wearing the same color. They like to hear the words of the speakers even if they do not completely understand the importance of what is being said. They like the noise, the chants, the songs. They like when strangers smile at them and compliment their signs or shout words of encouragement: "Get it girl! You're fighting the good fight." And they like to be together with their buddies and run, jump and parkour all over the place on all of the interesting structures that downtown delivers like no other place in the city. 

I think what they might secretly like most of all is the promise of taquitos and churros on Olivera Street after working up a hearty appetite on the line.