Mini-London: a 24-hour course in Best-Friending

Those of you who have been around this blog longer than I care to remember (for posts were not in those days what they are today) might have lived through the days of my Georgia Campaign. On that campaign, I met my "crazy single friend," Katie Frost. Only back then, of course, she was not my best friend. In the two and a half years since Georgia, though, we have grown to be the best of the best sort of friends. Katie is my mainstay and I am hers. She has inspired me in so many ways though our lives run exactly opposite direction most of the time. I'm a nanny, novelist, and blogger while Katie runs statewide campaigns and hobnobs with the rich and famous. She was the main inspiration behind the Cinderella-figure in my contest-winning novella, The Windy Side of Care. In short, Katie's amazing. Which means that when we discovered her family had planned a trip to Washington D.C., it was imperative that I come.

It was the twenty-four-hour trip of a lifetime. We stayed at the Willard Inter-Continental with her family, met oodles of congressmen, pretended we were rich and chic, ran from the Library of Congress to the Rayburn building in high-heels, watched the Government Shutdown vote (and numerous congressmen of interest) from the balcony, rode the little train that is strictly Members Only (with a Member) from Rayburn to the Capitol, went on the Speaker's Balcony and through No Trespassing places, ordered hot cocoa from Room Service at 2 AM, and generally acted as if we were Eloise of the Plaza. A few pictures from the thingamajig:

stalker shot like a pro

Mini-Katie and I on the Speakers' Balcony. DC behind us. Best vantage-point ever.

Lady Alis in the flesh

 

See that tam? It is somewhere on the White House lawn.

The Hill was WINDY the entire time, except for the magical half-hour in which snow fell just for us.

 

Poor lighting, but we had to get a picture on the Congressmen-only train!

 If you ever get a chance to step into the Willard at Christmas, do so. It is beautiful beyond imagining. I was there for under 24 hours and had enough plot material for a novella which I am executing in 12 parts on my other blog. I'm not sure what a week would do for me.

ain't nobody got time for more than some iPhone shots

The Frosts are so involved in politics that they know pretty nearly everyone. Only a slight exaggeration. Though I have been to DC numerous times, I had not gone in the company of a Congressman, which made this a special trip. We saw many lovely hidden places such as the chapel where the Congressmen go to pray. Actually had to wait for one to leave before we could go in. I'm blessed to have been considered an honorary Georgian and a temporary Frost! :D

How beautiful is the Willard, even in a blurry phone photo?

There is one picture that Katie and I snapped of ourselves at 3 AM that night...after hot showers and hot cocoa and getting all the little girls changed and bathed and in bed...and trying to begin watching Decoy Bride. But lest Katie ever marry a famous person and the press comes looking for blackmail photos, I'll refrain. Aren't I a good best friend? Suffice it to say, we looked dreadful.

There was good food, lots of waiting in hallways, crowded Uber (sp?) rides and a hurried, breathless, not-wanting-to-think-it-was-true goodbye at the metro stop where I then ferried myself to the end of the line and was picked up (after some confusion) by my sister-in-law. So many beautiful moments in that too-short piece of wonderful, but my favorite memory has to be the moment of meeting after our terribly long absence. It was exactly like in a movie. I saw Katie in the hall on the far side of the marble plaza, calmly handed off my gloves and purse and we caught each other in a huge hug that was so obviously long-awaited that the hostess grinned. And she's probably used to seeing meetings.

Oh DC, you were beautiful. Next time Charleston. Then London. <3

Long-distance friendships? Yeah they're rough, but being together again is so worth the wait.

March for Life 2013

(photos by Daniel Tate)

For the past several years, a group of people we know have gone up to Washington DC for the March for Life, and it has never worked out in our schedule for me to go. But this year was different. This year Sarah and I both felt very strongly that we wanted to go and show our support for Life. To be counted among those hundreds of thousands of people who are not willing to stay silent. Daniel and Abigail decided to come along too, so we piled into the Tate's 15 passenger van and headed out at 6:30 yesterday morning.

The March for Life, for those of you who aren't familiar with it, is a yearly gathering where people of all faiths, really (lots of Catholics and Christians) collect on the National Mall in Washington DC and listen to speakers speaking on the topic of Life. We got there before the official starting time, and at first there weren't that many people so we were able to get rather close to the stage.

I was standing among a bunch of Catholic college students from Kansas. One particular guy had the loudest shouting voice I think I've ever heard. :D It scared me every time he bellowed!

We stood there in the freezing cold listening to the speakers, all of whom are passionate about the fact that life begins at conception, that abortion is wrong, and that it hurts the mothers as well as the children--a fact many people don't realize. Among the live speakers and video messages, we were able to hear the Speaker of the House: John Boehner, Rick Santorum, and several other notables. But my two favorite speakers were less-famous.

The Jeremiah Lorrig, please return to Miss Grace Tate at earliest opportunity. ;)

One speaker that impacted me was a nineteen year old college student named Ruben Aaoron Verastigui who has devoted his life to fighting abortion. "We are the Pro-Life Generation," he said, calling upon the thousands upon thousands of young people in the crowd to press forward. 

Jill and Grace :)

Grace and Jeremiah

Ruben reminded us that the pro-choice side is getting older and older while the pro-life side is getting younger and younger. It was so neat to hear a guy this young exhorting those of us around his age to get involved. And it was also neat to see that about half of the people there were between the ages of 17-25. :) Definitely a good show of hope for the pro-life movement. According to the Washington Post, the majority of the crowd was young people. 

I also loved hearing Ryan Bomberger, the founder of the Too Many Aborted ministry. See, Ryan has a special niche in the pro-life market. In his own words, he said: "I'm the fringe case even pro-lifers have a hard time accepting." Because Ryan was a baby born of rape. But his mother was a courageous, courageous woman and she chose to keep him. She chose to put him up for adoption, and because of that, Ryan grew up in a wonderful, loving home with parents who adopted ten other children. TEN! Isn't that amazing? His story is so inspiring, so be sure to check out his website.

When the speakers were finished and we were thoroughly frozen, we smushed and pushed and joggled ourselves out to Constitution Avenue. It took about 2 hours just to walk from the Mall to the Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill, but while we were walking, a perfect snow began. Literally perfect, crystal snowflakes that were so ornate I forgot where I was. Standing on Capitol Hill and looking back down the streets (realizing that we were in the last 2/3 of the parade anyway) was astonishing. So many people. And that gorgeous snow.

I forgot I was in DC among hundreds of thousands of people. I forgot there was anyone else there. I just stared at my beautiful snowflakes on my glove and exclaimed, "THEY'RE REAL!" (referencing snowflakes that look like the cartoon ones) which apparently occasioned a fellow marching beside me to look at me with a horrified, "You must be stupid" expression on his face. Well whatever, dude. By the time we marched all the way to the Supreme Court building, the snow had filled my hood, and was a quiet powder on the sidewalks. We parted with our good friends who live up in the DC area, and headed back to Union Station to thaw before the drive home.

It was freezing.

It was almost miserable.

But oh, was it worth it. To hear the cheers of thousands of pro-life supporters...to see the thousands of young people who are swelling the country with support for a cause that will not die with the original Roe V. Wade protesters. We prayed together. We marched together. And I am fully confident that someday we will weep together in joy as abortion is nationally recognized as murder of innocent children and is forever banned from our country.

Amen?