by the Mall Diva

The heart of our beautiful country was pumping with thousands of people November 5, 2009. I got to be one of them!

Ever since my dad borrowed my car a few months ago and left the radio on 100.3 KTLK I’ve been hooked. Probably a good thing. I heard Michele Bachmann on Hannity last Monday afternoon; she was imploring listeners to drop everything and come out to D.C. to fight the Healthcare Reform Bill. “Who’s actually going to do that?” I thought. Then I forgot about it.

Tuesday morning my mom and I went to vote, and had time before work to grab coffee together at the Black Sheep (of course). I remembered what I had heard the day before. “Mom, do you want to hop a plane to D.C. tomorrow and protest Obamacare?” She looked at me, and promptly said “yes”! Whoop! I wasn’t actually serious! But if she was on board, why shouldn’t I be? We started talking about who might want to come with us, and the best way to travel. If we wanted to road trip it, we would have to leave that night. I texted to Ben the same question I had asked my mom, and then called my good friend Princess Flickerfeather.

“Do you want to come to Washington D.C. with me for a protest rally?”

“When?”

“Tonight, if we drive.”

“….Are you serious??”

This time I was.

We worked to get our little crew together, and the result was yours truly (mad props to my boss for letting me go), PFF, TL, and our friend Mel. My mom couldn’t get away from work, and Ben couldn’t get away from church. ;D

We left at 10:30 that night, and drove and sang and laughed and slept, and ultimately had the funnerest time you could have with four women and all their stuff packed in a little white Mazda 626 for 20 hours straight. We couldn’t believe what we were doing! 8 o’ clock Wednesday night we arrived on Chestnut St. in Waynesboro, PA, where my cousins generously let us crash, and fed us pizza. Yay! About nine Thursday morning, we were on our way to the Metro station. We greatly admired the beautiful scenery Pennsylvania has to offer, and I decided that I’m going to move there. Of course Benny’s coming! We got off the train at Union Station (which is really sweet, btw) and took a nice stroll to the Capitol. The weather was amazing! But why would that be surprising when we were on a mission from God??

On the Metro, headin' for town!

We arrived on the lawn in front of the White House and mingled with the most well-behaved mob I have ever encountered. We heard Bachmann, Jon Voight, Mark Levin, and about a gajillion other conservative office-holders, physicians, and celebrities. It was a rollicking good time!

When the speakers were done, they set us loose on the congressional offices, where ensued a game of hide and seek. Betty McCollum was elusive when we arrived at her office (surprise, surprise!), but we left notes for her with her secretary. I pretty much wrote a novel on the piece of paper I was given, but all were necessary points! Examples: 1. You are for the bill, I am not. 2. If you subject America to this bill, you’d better also subject yourself and your family to it, or be a hypocrite. 3. No matter what you think, this bill will NOT save money in any way, shape, or form. Your children and grandchildren along with mine will be paying for it all their lives. Do you really want that to be their inheritance from you? 4. Your job is that of public servant, and if you vote in favor of this bill, I will personally be working to make sure that you are not re-elected. And finally, I encouraged her to rethink her position on the bill.

We then found Bachmann, and she encouraged us to keep knocking on doors. We followed her orders and went looking for Jim Oberstar. Guess where he was? Not in his office! But his legislative director was in, and graciously talked with us for about an hour. I came away from that with the realization that no matter what, there was absolutely no way that I could reconcile this bill with my principles. Bummer.

After dinner we are greeted by a beautiful scene

After that, it was dinner time! We ate at Tortilla Coast, which was fantastic, and started for home. Our trip home was highlighted by occasions of slap-happiness, a freaky encounter with the Circle “Cafe” in W. Virginia, breakfast in Chicago, and some good things to discuss. I think it is unanimous that we had a fantastic time.

Yes, we did have a fabulous time, thanks!

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