The March We All did and what it said about us.

My friends.

What a world, what a world.. as she melts into the puddle on the ramparts of her castle.

I went to pour a glass of vodka,

I dropped the glass. My favorite glass. It broke on the floor and my husband came running out. Oh! so much blood. I was barefoot and we spent the next 30 minutes wrapping my amazing bleeding foot. He is still cleaning up the glass.

Not how I wanted to introduce my latest blog, but this is life and this is what happens. And now I just knocked over the cranberry juice on the carpet.. My hands have no control. My husband is beyond.. not pleased. Shoot. I want him to go to bed but he still keeps cleaning and it makes me a bit nervous.

I want to talk about the things going on not only in my head but in the wider world. The marches! The marches that had to turn into rallies. The unity and love and community I felt last Saturday. The anger I felt a couple of days later when the "other side" insisted on not understanding what we were doing.

The community I felt staying in just one place. And yet.. in a wheelchair. Honestly. Being completely ignored. Weird.

In a world of community, my friends, my husband.. ONE woman greeted me as her sister. I was ignored in the wheelchair. I didn't quite get it until we were in the parking lot and as were we leaving we met a wonderful group of 5 women leaving as we were. We applauded each other and they insisted on taking selfies with us. They were from Compton... Phil is Arabic.. I was in a wheelchair.. it was beautiful!

And yet..
We need to make a better job of helping each other. As my husband was trying to push me thru the crowd a young woman was holding up a sign with a handicapped emblem saying I am marching for those who can't. SHE DIDN'T SEE ME in a wheel chair and didn't move out of the way as we were trying so hard to get out of the oppressive crowd. SHE DIDN'T see me!  We maneuvered around the camera that was taking her picture.

HELLO.
This is not about YOU helping. This is about the folk that need the help. How nice you showed up. What did you do to help?

Sorry.. I am a bit astounded at how little help or attention Phil and I saw and received as we tried to participate and struggled with the wheelchair and the cane. We were invisible.

We are good. WE are strong. But.. a lot of people needed more help than we did. LADIES.
WHERE WERE YOU? You never even looked down at me in the wheelchair.

I had a pink hat. I was wearing the sweatshirt for the LA March. I met some of my friends It was a glorious day.

Yet. We need to get better at this and we need to support and look at each other. WE need to SEE each other. Hello! I am here. I will be here for you. Things will get tough. LOOK AT ME. Ladies!

And then.. Talk to me.. I am in a wheelchair. I would love for you to look down and say a word or two to me. I am getting up to just say "hi."

Don't be afraid to talk to me too. I have cancer. I can't breathe very well. I have trouble standing. I look like I am okay. I am not. My husband has MS. We brought the wheelchair to share our disabilities. We have invisible disabilities. We try so hard to look like the general population. WE are sick and yet we want to contribute. DO NOT IGNORE US!

WTF.
Very few people talked to us. I think handicapped people may be the last ignored folk.. come on!