I didn’t really decide I was going until a few days before. By then, seats on charter buses were sold out and while I entertained the idea of driving down, the notion seemed pretty daunting. DC looks confusing on a map and I’d heard many times before (from people driving down to Florida from New York mostly) that if your travel plans take you anywhere near that area, you have to go round the loops and jams and snarls that are the DC maze. It always sounded as if you would be driving around the Bermuda Triangle and could be sucked into a vortex and never be heard from again. So I kept trying to get a seat on a bus.
I did.
As we waited to board the big orange bus in the predawn darkness, I quickly saw that I was the only male in line. I suddenly felt like I was crashing a female sorority pajama party. “Phi Beta Pink Hats” or something. Soon, a few other men sleepily arrived and took their place in line and I felt better. The big break came when I went onboard and grabbed a seat at the back of the bus (by the potty) that had no seat in front of it, so my legs could stretch freely into the aisle. This was like getting a Penthouse Suite for a guy 6′4″, and I rejoiced.
When we arrived in DC five hours later, it looked rainy and gray, but the lukewarm coffee in my thermos was bracing. We all staggered off to join a very long line that snaked into the far distance and were told it led to a Metro entrance where you could buy a ticket for the long ride down to where the action was.
I found myself standing behind three folks around my age who were savvy and connected and in about 5 minutes we were sharing an Uber ride. As we drove off like celebrities, leaving everyone else in line, I began getting the Grand Tour. I began to feel that life was an unending avenue of green lights and welcome signs.
Then we got out of the car and found ourselves in a sea of humanity without a compass or a captain. A vast and seemingly endless ocean of pink hats and protest signs all roiling and bobbing and flowing along toward some rumored and distant shore.
I had wound up in the Bermuda Triangle after all.
I decided to leave my Uber shipmates and strike off alone to find my new friends and comrades in the Resistance who had arrived earlier on other buses from the north.
Yeah, sure. Good idea. In short order, I was missing my Uber pals and felt a little like a kid who got separated from his parents at Disney World. Another Old Man and the Sea.
But I was finding my sea legs and back to feeling in top form. I started to feel very uplifted. I mean, “Look at this!”, I thought. I’d never seen so many people at one time in my life. And they mostly seemed happy and human and very purposeful. I suddenly felt a part of it all. A chant began to roll like a wave toward us. It may have started a mile down the line. “Tell me what democracy looks like!” “This is what democracy looks like!” Call and response. Call and response. And it really was the truth. This is what democracy looks like.
The sense of being part of a great swelling movement has stayed with me. The feeling of gratitude for living in my country has been revived in new and stirring ways.
Thanks for letting me share a little of this experience with you. It’s always so great to know you’re here.
Regardless of your personal beliefs, be they for or against, celebrating or protesting, I was standing in this reality: We live in a country where half a million people can meet up and raise their voices and not be shot or rounded up by a despot or fascist. And we do live in a country like that.
For now.
Happy Friday.
Don
hi, don.
thanks for sharing about your trip and especially for marching to help to make known the peaceful alternative voices! glad your travels went well and you made it back home to a very nice person after what had to be an exciting and exhausting, very long day.
hope you and claudia have a wonderful weekend ahead.
kathy in iowa
Very special to have your first hand account of this important event in the history of our democracy and a sincere thank you for sharing your experience. Please know that the readers of this blog are grateful and very proud of you for your effort to be there and your courage to stand up for truth and all our country was founded on. So glad you listened to the readers wanting your input ! Unforgettable day and your play by play account had us right there with you! Huge Thank You and Best Wishes, Dianne
Don, thank you for sharing this amazing experience with us. I truly watched this march all day long and felt the power and sincerity of this movement. I pray we continue since we have so much to be afraid of. I thank you for your willingness to march for Claudia, Meredith, Little Z and me!! Hugs!
Thanks for sharing your amazing experience with us.
Thank you for sharing your experience. It was a glorious day, wasn’t it? We may have had it easier here in Central Texas, with the temps in the high 70’s, but that sun sure did beat down on our heads after hours of standing shoulder to shoulder with others. That didn’t matter. We were together for a common cause the values we thought important, and, no, we’re not alone after all. Here in the middle of our very red state, it’s easy to feel isolated.
Thank you, Linda! The red is so thick in my part of the state, I feel totally alone.
jane-in-tx
This movement belongs to all of us! I am so very glad that you were there to help make history. It was remarkable, wasn’t it?
Your photos are much better than mine because I am not 5ft tall.
Yes we can!
Thanks, Don, from Florida and this fair-weather New Yorker! It can’t have been an easy decision to go, but it sounds like just being with so many who held the same ideas and fears was a life-changing and hope-affirming experience. Thanks for bringing us along. We’re proud to “know” you!
Bravo! Thank you for letting ME be there, too. Hopefully, more people will join the ranks of those of us paying attention!
Great photos and post, Don. Thanks for taking part and sharing with us!
In this new world of Alternative Truths, I thank you for your service. Apparently this lunacy is going to continue. I still can’t comprehend how we got here. All I know is that there MUST be a way out. How and when we get out seems to be our new reality in this Magical Mystery Tour which has been forced upon us. Thanks for sharing with us.
Thank you for marching. My daughter, son in law, and granddaughter marched in Austin TX. She said it was a very moving experience. I am glad to read your experience. We all need to stay informed on what is going on and keep in touch with the congress to let them know our feelings.
Thank you, Don. What a defining experience for you, and all the others around the nation who marched.
Great post! Thank you, Don, for participating in this march and letting our voices and concerns be heard!!
How exciting! I felt a moment of panic when you left your Uber friends and went off on your own. I could imagine thinking, “Oh my God, I’m hours away from home and how will I get back to the bus?!” It appears that you weren’t too panicked.
Great posting, Don! I felt as if I was really there. Your sense of the dramatic and ghe literary references lightened the tone without trivializing the day’s serious mission.
Thank you for marching for all of us and for that outstanding final conclusion. Most of us need to be reminded of how fortunate we are.
I hope you’ll consider future posts to add your perspective. I love Claudia’s writing but bet she’d welcome the occasional break!
I chuckled a bit when you were trying to make a decision, because I knew the harder the choice,
the more it would tug at your integrity, and join your moral compass.And you would stand like a man,and walk for every female ,including those to young to know ,and those who just couldn’t come. I Think You are a Really,Good, human being. Thank-You Don.
p.s. You a funny guy Judy A-
Don,
I too was in DC and whenever a tall man passed by, I looked to see if it was you! Thank you for making the trip and giving up your time, sleep and money to come and join the March. Your pictures are great and from a much different perspective than mine since I am only 5 feet and 1/2 inch!
It was a historical day that has filled me with hope and determination. Both of which have been greatly needed in the days since the March. On Saturday we marched but it is so very important to march every day. How? By contacting our elected officials, donating to causes we support whose funding is being cut, subscribing to the newspaper, getting involved with local resistance meetings, etc. Each morning we can determine our march for the day.
Again Don thank you and I wish you and Claudia bright blessings!
Kim in Maryland
#amovementnotamoment
Good for you! Loved this wrap-up. And my favorite picture was you in the backseat with your Uber pals! What joy on your faces. Doing good makes you feel that way.
Wonderful stories & great up-close-to-the-action photos! Thanks so much for doing this. To start, thanks for making the effort to go. You showed your solidarity with women everywhere – and the America we all grew up in – by participating. Be sure to hang on to this too – you might even elaborate on it in the future as you remember people you met & their stories – because there are going to be journalists, historians & sociologists writing about this momentous event in the future. Probably the not-too-distant future too. And YOU WERE THERE! They’ll want to hear from you. You & Claudia have a great weekend!
Peace. #Resist 🇺🇸
Bravo! I applaud you! The funny thing is you feeling uncomfortable being the only man there. Are you kidding me? Every women there wished her partner would be there as well. You had the courage to show up. Waiting in lines, the huge crowds, early morning departure, all too much for me. But, thanks to people like you, things happen. Yay! It was wonderful to see so many show up and let it be known that goodness does prevail. Thank you for your service. I just bought a stack of postcards to be sent to my local representatives on a regular basis. Cheers to you Don!
Thank you Don, I felt like you represented all of us who could not attend any of the marches. The photographs were super, BRAVO.
Thanks for sharing your experiences from your day at the march Don – great post!
A very eloquently written piece Don! So proud that the people are letting Trump know that he is not as popular as he thinks, I think he likes himself a little too much! We have a programme in Australia callled The Project this week was called Trump s first week it is on the ABC . I was mortified. On a brighter note you should be guest writer on this wonderful blog more often. Janine, South Australia
Thank you so much for sharing! You, like your lovely wife, have a way with words and made us feel like we were along for the uplifting journey. It makes me feel if we stick together, somehow we will get through this and have found something positive on the other side.
I loved this. As always, you never disappoint. Just a big Thank You!!!
jane-in-tx
Thank you so much for sharing your experience, Don! Great photos too. I’ve been looking forward to your post.
I just found out today that my sister in-law marched in Southern California… I was excited to hear her story.
We have to stick together and let our voices be heard. We can’t let that man destroy our beautiful country.
Thanks again!
Don, you are a wonderful writer…human, to the point but great word pictures, too. Thank you for this first-person account of the incredible march (along with such interesting photos). What an experience…you were brave with keeping at it, even if it meant, as a trade for leg space, you had to smell the potty next to your bus seat!
Thank you for sharing your experiences, Don… we need more men like you! 5 hours on a bus next to the potty is dedication to the cause! Bravo!
I enjoyed reading your post, Don. Thank you for standing up for what is right and participating in the march.
Go Don! Thankful that you shared your experience on a remarkable day.
Thank you Don! Thank you for going and thank you for sharing!
Thank you for representing so many of us that were unable to attend!
Thanks for Marching and thank you for sharing the experience with all of us. Without exception, the stories I’ve read shared by participants the world over have been positive. You make a great point at the end of your narrative: this country was founded on the ideas of protest and dissent. Our laws encourage the peaceful assembly of people toward a common good. We are protected by The Bill Of Rights.
So far.