Our Election was held and the outcome was shocking to the hearts and minds of most of the population regardless of the decision of the Electoral College. We watched in horror and concern as the new administration began to assemble its advisors and its cabinet. The choices were outside the mainstream as far as education, experience and diversity with many having no idea what the positions they were being tapped for entailed.

Rick Perry thought he would be traveling around talking about gas and oil. Nukes? What… This was an office he had proposed eliminating. OOPS!

Betsey DeVos, a billionaire that thinks public schools should be done away with in deference to religion based private schools. But who’s religion? And now, she tweets, where can I find a pencil? Her family gave millions to the Republicans, she bought her position.

Ben Carson, in charge of HUD, well, he’s lived in public housing so he is qualified for that…

And then there is Jeff Sessions. A man that had been denied a federal judgeship in Alabama in 1986. He was deemed too racist for that bench, but is now just racist enough to be Attorney General of the United States.

There is so much at risk. Healthcare, environment, education, women’s rights LGBTQ rights, people in poverty, maintaining the dignity of our elderly, our environment, equal rights, immigration, voting rights and certainly handling our international relationships in a very touchy time. We watched as our newly elected President began tweeting inflammatory little 140 character comments at Iran, Iraq, China, and Mexico. As a Nation, we shuddered. Are we standing back as this goes on? Or are we going to stand up and start being heard in a very big way.

The idea began in Hawaii when Teresa Shook posted “I think we should March!” In four weeks 125,000 people had signed on to march in DC. Hotels started to fill up, flights were being booked, bus trips were organized. I watched and read about this and on December 3rd I started texting my friends and family. Were they going?

My sister Chris from California, her daughter, Heidi, from our very own Sanford and two cousins Drea and Mare from Brooklyn, New York had their tickets and a room. Come join us they said, and within the next few minutes I had my ticket. From west, south, and east we would march together. This administration would hear women raising their voices in dissent and mine would be one.

I feel passionate about our country and our standing in the world. I’ve never really liked the wars we get tangled up in, and had occasion to march against the Vietnam war and have been known to speak out against the mess in the Middle East. I long for peace and the safety and security of the world.

I appreciate the concern for the global warming. We can see and feel its effects no matter how much the deniers turn their backs on the science.

I am a grandmother of a five-year-old and feel concerned for his ability to get a great education and to be able to simply breath clean air and drink clean water.

Mare, my cousin from Brooklyn, is a teacher and at the march she spoke about the difficulties she faces in the school system. Not enough resources, too much testing, the difficulties dealing with large class sizes, and an insufficient pay scale.

She was there with her wife, Drea. We talked about gay rights and what effect this administration might have on their marriage and their job security. “We have fought this fight for years and we do not want to start over” Mare said.

My sister Chris is a Therapist and spoke of the pressures of caring for people that are short on resources and scared about what the future holds. She also talked about her work at a Jewish Community Center that had fallen often under threat of harm.

We have seen a rise in threats against our own JCC in Maitland and Orlando in recent weeks. We were all in lock step over the issues that are too numerous to

list. So, we marched, chanted and found common ground with so many like minds that attended in DC. An estimated 800,000 minds.

Now DC was not the only area that saw massive numbers marching. Hundreds of thousands in New York, and Los Angeles. Texas marched and even Alaska, In the freezing snow, held a march. Across the world women put on their walking shoes and in lock step we marched!

Our Lake Eola had thousands show up to stand united against what we know is an assault on our democracy. My Friend Paula was there having felt discouraged over the election. She sought to connect with like-minded people to relieve the stress she felt since the election. She was uplifted to see so many women, men and children peacefully expressing their feelings of concern over the new administration and its policies. She said that she was impressed by the sweetness of the Orlando people. “It was not just a women’s rights rally. Besides folk’s concern with the reproductive rights of women, there were proponents of LGBTQ rights, animal rights, immigration and minority rights, public education and the separation of church and state, and just plain human decency”, said Paula.

Lastly, I heard Donald Trump say that at least fifty percent of those women were marching to support him. I was there Donald. I heard the chants, I read the signs and with my own two eyes, I saw the passion in the people against you. We donned our pink pussy hats and protested against you Donald, and we will continue doing so for the next four years.