The Cup of Fortunes: Week 3 (January 12-18)

Before we get into this week's fortunes, I want to share a little story from way back in 2009. I've shared many times on this blog and my old blog about my political activities and volunteerism. I've been politically active since before I could vote and I've been volunteering my whole life. Both things are very important to me. While I don't volunteer for political campaigns anymore, I loved doing that back in the day. Phone banking and canvassing are really interesting and a little stressful, but also appeal to my curious nature (which connects this to this week's fortunes). While I'm more introverted, I really do love helping people and connecting people to information. I stopped doing both after the 2016 election, and focused my attention on other political volunteerism activities like voter registration and being an election officer, but back in 2009, I was in it.

After Obama won the election, I immediately signed up to be a volunteer for his first Inauguration. My parents took me to Clinton's parade in 1992. We had just moved here and they were very into "what are all the things we can do here that we couldn't do in other places we lived," so they took me, a person who had lived most of her life in southern states, to a parade in January in DC. It was awesome. And I mean that sincerely. It was awesome. 

I was selected to come to orientation and was eventually assigned to two events: press packet pickup (night shift) and National Mall volunteer for the day of the event. Press packet pickup was inside and relatively uneventful. I was assigned to smaller media outlets and remember all the journalists being around my age and pleasant. 

Inauguration Day was amazing. I had to be on the National Mall by 4 am and stay until the end of the event. It was bitter, bitter cold and I had approximately five layers of clothes on and was still freezing. I was assigned to a captain and our group was responsible for helping people using mobility devices in an area of the Mall that had been set up so their devices wouldn't sink into the grass. It was in line with the Hirshhorn Museum (for those who need a visual reference) and near one of the large screens that was set up. I didn't really move away from that spot the entire day. There was supposed to be a warming tent but none of us could find it. We ate snacks all day since getting to the volunteer food tent meant wading through thousands of people. It didn't matter that we were cold, a little hungry, and cold, it was history.

I was positioned near the back of the space and about 20 minutes before the event started, an older Black woman came to the entrance with her family. She was using a walker with a seat and was struggling with grass. Most of the family that were with her were in their teens and 20s, and you could tell they wanted to be closer to the stage. She told them to go up there, and she'd sit with me. They asked a few questions about how long volunteers would be around, and I said I'd be here until about an hour after the event ended. They hugged her, and went on her way. We got her settled, I helped a few other people, and then the event started. I returned to standing next to where this lady was sitting. We chatted for a few minutes before everything got started. During the ceremony, both of us cried and we held hands and we experienced this very important moment together. My volunteer partner was on the other side of me and most of our group was standing at the back of the space so we were all together too. As President Obama was sworn in, the lady squeezed my hand and I squeezed her hand back. After the ceremony ended, I waited with her until her family came back. We hugged and she thanked me for being so helpful and we went our separate ways. After the ceremony, it was absolute chaos trying to get back to Metro and then back home to Alexandria, but me and my volunteer friends made it and I went home to thaw out. 

This was before I had a cell phone with a camera so this is from a disposable camera I had with me. I'm in the brown fleece jacket. The woman to my left was my volunteer partner. 

I think about the lady I met and the volunteers I work with every now and then, especially when an Inauguration is coming up. That was a beautiful day. It was full of hope and optimism and the promise of something new. The emotion I saw on people's faces was raw and pure. It was an amazing experience. 

I don't know what's going to happen on Monday. The actual ceremony has been moved indoors because it's supposed to be very cold on Monday, the coldest Inauguration Day in over 40 years. All these people who spent thousands of dollars to come here and reveal in their racist garbage president's return are not happy about that change. We saw what they were capable of four years ago when they committed an insurrection, so I have to wonder how Monday will go now. I worry the anger will spill out into communities around the DMV that have nothing to do with inauguration planning or the decisions of a very small man. I saw a little bit of their behavior yesterday and it was not good. I feel bad for the residents of DC and people who work in the city. I'm staying away this weekend. 

The next four years are going to be challenging and bleak and difficult. While I hope the egos and stupidity of most of the people involved in this incoming administration make it impossible for them to accomplish anything, I know better. I know bad things will happen. I know people will be harmed by their hatred and narrow mindedness. Fortune cookies don't have the right advice for this so I'll tell you mine: take care of yourself, the people you love, and the communities you belong to. Create art. Create joy. Mourn together. Support each other. Don't obey in advance. Question things. Be the weird and wonderful you. Don't let the man get you down.

I did embroidered three fortunes this week. I don't think I'm going to do that again. One or two is better, but I thoroughly enjoyed this week. My favorite fortune was the last one I embroidered this week; it involves curiosity. I also made the decision to move the fabric every four weeks. I think this will help with spacing and having a better sense of how much fabric I'm covering, so next week will be the last week for the fabric in this specific position. I'm going to continue stitching the lucky numbers along the bottom edge for now. 

Here are this week's fortunes and lucky numbers:

January 12 (before and after I started stitching)

January 13

January 14

January 15 - my birthday (month and day) were included in this fortune's lucky numbers!

January 16 - I embroidered both the fortune and the lucky numbers in the same day.

January 17

January 18 - this is my favorite fortune! It's not really a fortune, but more of a state of being. I love it.

January 18

Weeks 1-3

Woodlawn, Friendsmas, Cults, and Other Things Bringing Me Joy This Week

I finished the first part of my Woodlawn entry this week. I'm planning to finish the second part and get my registration done this weekend. I think the first one turned out well. I'll iron and re-hoop both pieces once I finish the second one.

Groundhog Day cards are done and will be mailed out this week. If you really wanted one but didn't sign up, message me and I may be able to get one done this weekend to send. 

Last Saturday, I celebrated the annual tradition of Friendsmas with my friend Anita. We've been doing this for years; it started when one or both of us weren't living in the DC area and we had to schedule time to catch up over the holidays. Now that we're both here, we plan a day to do fun things and exchange gifts. This year we visited Loud N Roasted for a coffee flight (monthly rotation, highly recommend) and Mt. Defiance Distillery for a cider tasting. We went to the barn at Mt. Defiance and it was beautiful. I've been to their tasting room in downtown Middleburg, but will go to the barn now since it's so nice. We happened to be there at the same time as a meetup for people with Newfies. There were so many lovely, big dogs hanging out. I also met an actual Saint Bernard. 

The peppermint bark latte was my favorite.

I'm not a huge cider fan, but these were good. We also tried one of their vermouths.

I also received a mystery package from Penzey's Spices earlier in the week. I order from them occasionally and they shipped "Resist" spice packets to people in the DC area ahead of the inauguration. I have a ton of spice packets to give out. The blend is really good, but more importantly, this company is amazing. 

I ordered a king cake this year as well. It arrived on Thursday. Delicious way to end the week. Haydel's includes a little ceramic item with their cakes and the one I got is a box of fried chicken. It's awesome. 

Lastly, I finished Hey, Hun by Emily Lynn Paulson this week and have now moved onto Cultish by Amanda Montell. Both are great reads if you're looking for book recommendations. I'm also going to get Montell's new book, The Age of Magical Overthinking. 

Seems sort of appropriate to be reading this book right now.