The three of us set out early Tuesday morning. I was more productive that day before 9:00am than I usually am the whole day. We reached Cristy, my cousin, by about lunch time. After we fit all 4 car seats into my van, situated toys within arms reach for the 'Big Kids" all the way in the back with no adults and packed the back full of much less gear than I anticipated we were on our way. Well, after we stopped to potty and then stopped to pick up swim fins from the dollar store. Then we were on our way. After another potty stop. And another. No I'm just kidding.
There were 2 four year olds, one 16 month old, one five month old and two determined Mommies. All of those kids and can you believe all we had as far as luggage went was two bags (Christies a backpack!), two diaper bags, two strollers, one baby carrier, one cooler and a partridge in a pear tree. I kid you not. Miracle.
The kids did a fabulous job the whole time. The baby even timed her poops to when were stopped. What a good girl. My father lives about the half way point between Cristy's house and D.C. so we stopped and ran the big kids. I mean we ran them. They looked as though they were training for a some kid of short people marathon. Those little arms were moving and those little legs were working. After packing them back in they took short naps and we ran into very little traffic. We checked into our fabulous hotel after a short but scenic drive through Washington D.C. I love D.C. Love. The kids were happy to be in the hotel and they took free reign over the connecting rooms.
The next day we woke up, fed the kids, got to the subway, on and off the subway, to the line up all ON TIME. I was sure we would be totally late just because, well we had 4 kids with us.
So here is my confession. I don't know anyone who suffers from Autism. I don't know any parents who deal with it on an hourly basis. I went because it is important to make sure that every effort is being made to make sure that we understand this issue as much as possible and to assure that we are holding our elected officials and unelected decision makers accountable because these kids do matter.
With my disconnect I did not expect to feel as emotional as I did. I felt very quiet. At one point Jenny McCarthy asked everyone to hold up pictures of those affected by autism. In my hand was a picture of someone who I did not actually know. I found myself imagining how this mother felt when her son stopped connecting with her. When he stopped responding. When he stopped looking into her eyes. Ugg. It was so quiet. It was eerily quiet as the song played. I wish my video was longer but you can get a short sense of the feel.
At the end of the rally we were able to take pictures with Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey. That was a nice treat and Jim didn't make any strange noises because of how I smelled. That probably took a lot of effort on his part as I am sure he hugged a lot of people that day who smelled a bit like sour sweaty dirt.
Two kids who also smelled like sweaty dirt.
Were it not for the heat and urgency to get the children from point A to point B I am sure Cristy and I would have taken tons more photos. Alas sweaty, hot, tired, cranky kids don't like to stop in 100 degree weather so mommy can get just the right angle on the pretty architectural details so I had to forgo all the photo ops I was dying to capture.
My selfish reason for going? I felt active in something. Moms you know. Sometimes we feel ineffectual on a larger scale than clean bottoms and fed tummies. I encourage all of you to find what you are passionate about and try to devote some of your time and effort. You know mama bears. Get a pack of them together and who can stand in your way?
Links to participants in the Green Our Vaccines Rally
My Personal Opinion on Vaccines:
My husband's mother died of Tetanus when he was 5. Her doctors were neglectful. She died waiting for care at an over crowded hospital. A simple shot could have saved her life. I am in no way anti vaccines. I do however think that given the combination of environmental, genetic and medical factors we have today we need to stop and reevaluate the situation. All of these elements, not just vaccines, are causing a problem. We need to address all of these issues and evaluate them all both separately and in conjunction with the other elements.
There is something that is amiss. We should not be poking each kid with no regard for how their individual systems might respond. We also need to step back and not take it for granted that medicine is right. Historically medicine hasn't always been right. We need to make our own decisions with the best information we can get because when it comes down to it we are the only ones who live with that later.
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