The Women's March in DC: The Epilogue

This picture was taken before Maggie’s

feet ached inside her muddy shoes. Before she’d been jostled for six hours. Before part of the group wandered off. Before the others panicked and set out to find those four needles in a haystack.

Before she realized their leader had  organizational issues.

Even after all those befores, she said she’d do it again. She’s not annoyed or afraid.

She’s determined.

Change happens because the end result is more important than the sharp edges.

So whatever Maggie thought the day would be like, she adapted once she arrived. She was on a mission and grabbed it for all it was worth.

For my part, I spent that Saturday waiting for a picture that never came. I hyper-focused on a picture of her and her alone in that t-shirt. Isn’t that just like a mother? My daughter took pictures of great posters and interesting details along the route.

None of herself.

The pictures I finally  received of her were taken by others who traveled with her. (Mothers, probably.)

When she sent me her reflections for Part 2, especially her Lin-Manuel Miranda quote about the ultimate significance of seeds, I remembered a song called “Plant a Radish” from The Fantasticks. Two fathers sing:

Plant a radish.
Get a radish.
Never any doubt.
That’s why I love vegetables;
You know what you’re about!

While with children,
It’s bewilderin’.
You don’t know until the seed is nearly grown
Just what you’ve sown.

I was mistaken to think she’d be a selfie-taking Millennial on such an important occasion. Or that what I wanted was truly necessary. In fact, when she read Part 1, she admitted the day had been another Winnie-the-Pooh moment, just as I described when she made a breakaway dash at Disneyland upon seeing a life-sized Pooh Bear.

Somehow her toddler self realized we’d be right behind her.

When you look at her in this picture, you see an enthusiastic girl.

And me? I see my radish.

A prize-worthy one indeed.

And I’m still right behind her.