I wish the weather had been nicer. I felt a bit guilty lugging the kids to a protest on a cold, rainy day, but honestly, I think I'd have felt more guilty later had I not. Something about the Edwards clan always touched me from the moment I first heard their names back in 2004 during the presidential election. Quite frankly, I thought the ticket should have been reversed and if it had, I think things might have gone differently, but who knows? Nevertheless, Elizabeth impressed the hell out of me. I was already considering law school. She helped finalize my plans. I'm not saying the family's perfect. Clearly there were issues, but who among us doesn't have issues? They were dealt some hard blows and lived not only to tell about it but tried to make things better for others so I respect that. So not to go do what I could to help the family of a woman who influenced my life just never really was an option.
It was a balmy 39 degrees and drizzly when we arrived, and the energy in the air was intense. Almost immediately, I could see Matt was pretty interested in the events. I had tried to explain what we were doing and why on the way. Seeing it himself helped a lot. Some kind strangers helped me hoist Matt onto a pillar so he could get a good view of why we were there. I have a nice shot of him perched on the pillar with a gal holding a nice sign behind him. We walked around a while, people and sign watching. When people drove by, they would shout or beep their horns at us, and the crowd would clap and cheer. Vivi joined in on the clapping. Essentially the goal was to be louder than the Westboro group to drown out their hateful words. I think that was achieved.
Shortly after, the bottom dropped out and it simply wasn't feasible to hold a baby, push a stroller, keep a hand on a nine year old, and hold an umbrella to keep us dry so we ducked into a nearby museum to dry off, change a diaper, and have a snack. Unfortunately when we came out, everyone had dispersed. But we were there. We saw those hateful people firsthand. We outnumbered them by the hundreds. And I think that says a lot.
What hit home was when Matt saw the sign "Thank God for breast cancer!" He looked at me and said, "That is the meanest thing I've ever seen." I replied, "That is why we came. We wanted this family to know that most people don't feel that way. We are better than that." Later we saw the equally incredulous "Elizabeth Edwards is in Hell" sign. To that Matt replied, "I know that's not true, Mommy." I know it isn't as well.
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