W and I drove to Baltimore today. We are staying in Baltimore tonight and leaving for Washington, D.C., super early.
After we walked around the city for a bit, we went out to dinner at a nice Italian place.
The waiter spotted the safety pin on W’s shirt and started up a conversation.
W tells him we are going to the march tomorrow.
Before we know it, he is telling us about his partner of 25 years and how today’s inauguration has left him heartbroken.
“Us, too,” we say.
As he waits on us, he occasionally sits down and asks us questions and shares bits of his life with us.
“Tell him your analogy,” W says.
“She works with cancer patients,” I say. “Donald Trump becoming President reminds me of these stories she tells about people having these weird accidents and breaking an arm or a leg. When they get a scan, the doctors find a tumor. The broken arm or leg ends up being a blessing in disguise because it’s revealed the cancer. It’s brought all of the problems to the surface so they can be cured.”
“That’s one way of seeing the good in things,” he says.
“If it wasn’t for all of the bad stuff going on, we wouldn’t be talking to you right now,” W says.
The three of us nod our heads.
As the waiter brings us our meals, he slips us an extra carafe of Chianti and then another.
My wine glass is full as I eat my eggplant parmesan. And as I wipe up every last bit of sauce with bread.
“Maybe all of this Trump stuff isn’t so bad after all,” I say to W as I drink my wine.
“Maybe Trump was right,” I add. “It’s day one and he’s already made America great.”
I salute her with my glass of wine. My full glass of free wine. Free wine scores huge points in my world. Bigly huge.
“I wonder if we’ll have free wine every night for the next four years?” I ponder out loud.
At this point, I am pretty buzzed.
And then the wine is gone.
And we pay our bill.
The waiter hands us a brown paper bag containing a hunk of tiramisu and a cannoli. Free Italian desserts. As if the night couldn’t get any better.
We say our goodbyes. W hugs the waiter because she’s a hugger and gives him her safety pin. I wave like the queen of some foreign country because I am weird and aloof.
And as we walk out of the restaurant, I think that we’ll be okay. No, I know in my heart that we’ll be okay.
We aren’t alone. We have each other.
And now we have a reason to reach out to each other, talk to each other, comfort each other.
Plus, free wine and dessert.
The Flannel Files 
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You are so good at making me laugh and cry at the same time. What a gift! Your analogy reminds me of the conversation I had with my breast surgeon the other day. She made a comment about not wishing cancer on anyone but pointing out how far I’ve come and how much I’ve changed in positive ways. I agreed. If I could go back in time and wave a magic wand to make the breast cancer never happen, I wouldn’t do it. As terrifying and painful as the experience was (I never cried more in my life than the year after I was diagnosed), I learned so much about myself and connected with so many wonderful people. A few became dear friends and I wouldn’t trade them or the experience for anything. I truly believe we are going through growing pains and as unsettling and terrifying as the immediate future may be, as a society and as humans, we will learn about who we are, what’s really important and connect with people we may not have otherwise. And some will become dear friends, never to be traded and well worth any tears we cried.
That laugh/cry thing is my specialty. Not sure what that says about me as a writer but whatever.
We are home safe from the march and trying to make sense of it all. I can’t imagine millions of women taking to the streets all over the country without some good coming from it. Just have to remember it’s a journey. Yesterday was a first step.
And so glad you are safe and healthy and the person you are today. A truly supportive, inspiring, creative and compassionate person.
Wow. It’s tough to follow Piccadilly Jilly, but you both lighten the load I’ve felt on my heart and soul since yesterday. Well, since November really. We are not alone, and I know joining–in person and in spirit today–with hundreds and thousands across the country will lift our spirits even more. Like a glass of free wine.
Nothing lifts one’s spirits more than free wine (and this was good stuff, too) than millions of women coming together to change the world. As a kid, I remember reading books to feel not so alone. Now, as an adult, I have friends who make me feel not so alone. And my own words, which I hope will help others feel not so alone. To women and words (and free wine).
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I never would’ve known about my cancer without my chiropractor suggesting I get my shoulder X-rayed because it wasn’t getting any better. Right on the edge of the X-ray were two ‘shadows’.
When great evil rises, great hearts rise to oppose him. 🙂
Absolutely. Saw so many “great hearts” yesterday. Young, old. People wanting better. People wanting justice and equality. It restored my faith in humanity.
So glad you are okay.