Random Thoughts

I have been to more marches, protests, vigils, and rallies in the last 7 years than all the rest of my years combined.   I have marched to keep kids out of cages and with their parents.   I have marched for Pride.   I have held vigils for a murdered neighbor and a Supreme Court Justice that the world loved.   I have marched against the lying, cheating, egotistical former president that lost in 2020 and still won’t admit it.   I attended a vigil after white supremacists spewed their hatred in Charlottesville.   I have marched for Women’s rights.   I have rallied for Black Lives.   I have protested on the steps of the Supreme Court when said ex-president was trying to fill the court with people who believed in the same archaic, anti-equality things that he does.   I celebrated on the steps of the same high court when they announced what we all already knew – that gay marriage is equal to any other marriage.   And I am sure that I have attended other rallies, protests, and marches that I

I am at the Special Olympics USA Games in Orlando, Florida.   I am 3 days in, one more day left. I KNOW I should not write about my experiences yet, and I have a whole other day to learn and observe.   But I keep thinking about things that I do not want to forget, and my way of dealing with that when it happens is to WRITE.   So here we go. Lighting the flame at the opening ceremony - LET THE GAMES BEGIN! (Not my photo) This is my first real experience with the Special Olympics.   I have known of it since I was a child – my friend Chad competed in the local Special Olympics when we were growing up.   But I have never experienced it first-hand until now. Of course, perhaps like you, I had some preconceived ideas about what the games would be like before I came.   And, I must be honest, some of those assumptions were negative.   I will not get into those here as I am still trying to process a lot and understand if some of my hypotheses are true.   But what I WILL share now is what I know