Color My Day.....

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
Dr. Seuss

I walked through the streets and watched the people, as a straight married woman with two children.   There were rainbow shirts, scarves, bracelets and even a tight fitting rainbow colored body suit.

It was a day of "Tammy Faye baker make-up, big hair and sequined ballroom gowns.   Today was the gay pride festival in our down town area.  Madi, Hannahtard and I got ready and drove down to walk through the sights and sounds.  Why?  you might ask..well for the same reason I have taken my two white children to mostly black Martin Luther King marches.   As a human being, I try honor the things I believe.   All people were created equal---equal rights for all people.  For far too long, society has pushed those who are considered "outside the box" to the marginal edges and tried to make these folks feel, less than, not enough, like something is wrong with them.  Throughout the day, I perused little tents set up as outdoor stores full of figurines, buttons, t-shirts and scarves.  I smelled the smell of kettle corn, cotton candy, funnel cakes and hamburgers on the grill.  The sights...oh the sights were so worth the walk.  All kinds of people dressed in all kinds of clothes.  All kinds of drag queens and spiked hair and make-up and affection and openness about being who they were.   I found a seat and just sat there and watched.  People greeted each other with hugs, lovers held hands and kissed and hugged.  There were outfits of all kinds....some were amazing and others....well I thought to myself, what the H.   Somebody should have told them not to wear that outside the home.   I stood in the hot sun next to my daughter and all around us were gay couples dancing to the beat of the next queens song.   The "queens", they kept getting better.  From a Cher impersonator dancing in her heels to a Beautiful Brazilian Bombshell.  Their hair was teased and pumped and sprayed and glittered.  Their make-up put on thick, with lips plumped and pouting and eyelashes a batting.  One by one they marched on the stage to their respective tune in their high heel shoes that I'm sure I couldn't walk in myself.  The beat of the music rattled throughout the crowd and the sway of the dance was almost contagious as the queens worked the stage for their dollar tips.   All around color, sight and sound filled the moment.  I stood there in the midst of it all--alone--but yet woven to every single person there by our experience of the day. 

People are just people--all the same--have a heart and brain and soul.   I applaud those who were able to step out and live in the world in the fullness of their true color.  May we all have the courage to follow your lead and the passion to fight for a world where we can all be who we need to be without  rejection, abandonment or fear.  While I stood there...for just a moment...I experienced a moment of the beloved kingdom that Martin Luther King Jr. often talked about.....

As early as 1956, Dr. King spoke of The Beloved Community as the end goal of nonviolent boycotts. As he said in a speech at a victory rally following the announcement of a favorable U.S. Supreme Court Decision desegregating the seats on Montgomery’s buses, “the end is reconciliation; the end is redemption; the end is the creation of the Beloved Community. It is this type of spirit and this type of love that can transform opposers into friends. It is this type of understanding goodwill that will transform the deep gloom of the old age into the exuberant gladness of the new age. It is this love which will bring about miracles in the hearts of humanity.”

I don't know about any of you,

but I believe love does transform

and

that miracles do and will happen.

Today,

in the midst of color,

I believe just for a moment...

I caught a glimpse of what "we" might become if we work hard at reconciliation and redemption through love.

Thanks to all

at the

Pride Festival for Coloring My Day.

Happy Saturday!!!!

May Each of Us

walk a bit taller,

hold our head up a bit more,

and

push our shoulders back

and live into the fullness of

our own unique color...

Have a colorful day!!!!

{{Hugs}}