Hope to make this the last of my Crawford Briefs. After I had enjoyed the local artwork I went to my car and my phone rang, it was Tim. He had his suitcase in the back of my car and he needed a fresh change of clothes because he was going to speak at the rally. I told him that I would put it on a shuttle and send it to him. I quickly took his suitcase into Camp Casey and put it on a shuttle with directions that it belonged to Tim Goodrich.
I then trudged back to my car and called my husband who urged me to go to the rally also. I made an attempt to clean up a bit with baby wipes and caught a very large shuttle leaving Camp Casey for the rally.
There were counter protesters walking along the road to Camp Casey. They were of course parked at Bush’s friendly BBQ fundraising neighbor’s place. It was miserable hot too, but I still pretended to grab the shuttle wheel and make a swerve for them. Look guys, I know it was in bad taste but they were perfect enlistment age and they even had that nice layer of babyfat under their skin that they love to see on your first day at bootcamp!
When I got to the rally site there were quite a few cars, but so many more were going to show up in twenty minutes or so that it completely blew me away. I went behind the stage to hang out with the “military affected”. It seemed to be where we were all gathering. Tim said that his suitcase didn’t find him but he looked alright, not soaking wet like I felt.
There was a woman with a toddler back there that I hadn’t seen until then and she was giving an interview. I listened in and she broke down in tears saying that her husband was in Iraq as she spoke. After the interview I couldn’t help going to her for a hug and telling her how brave and full of courage I thought that she was since speaking out was the last thing I was willing to do when my husband was there. I told her my hiding behind the heavy front door story for that entire year.
Finally the rally got underway and I found myself enveloped in enthusiasm. I joined the crowd out in front of the stage, but still most of us military families hung around the sides of the stage and in a way that turned out to be really wonderful. Everybody who had come all that way to support us stood in front of the stage and THERE WAS A WHOLE LOT OF PEOPLE out there.
As different people spoke I reverted back to my cheerleading days. The president of Veterans for Peace brought tears to my eyes as he outlined not only the dead of Iraq that we all have to recover from, but also the physically and emotionally maimed who we MUST care for and help and aid in all ways possible for them to have whole healthy lives after this mess. I ended up hugging Valerie Fletcher while I cried, I just didn’t want her son going over there. I fear how he may be harmed.
When a musician came on stage I decided to phone Susan because the turn out for the rally was just amazing. I had to share it with someone, someone had to know that in the blazing sun in the middle of no place Texas a whole bunch of people traveled a distance to fully express their wish for Peace and for the Iraq War to kill NO MORE!
Susan could hear the crowd and wondered if “Crooks and Liars” couldn’t record some of the rally with me there. We tried but it just didn’t come through very well, so I waited until after the rally and did an interview.
My talk with Janet Strange though at Cat’s was so very important and it stayed with me throughout my whole experience in Crawford. I’ll try to explain it. Janet was there for the Vietnam War and the protesting of it and she speaks from such a clear and knowledgeable place. At Cat’s house she said that the Vets and the Clergy were the individuals who really ended up exposing Vietnam for what it was.
I had spoken with the Vets. Their voices had such impact coming over the sound system and speaking to all the people who had gathered though. It was as if the truth has its own frequency that resonates in our hearts and connects the heart and mind! I felt as if I understood a bit about what Janet had been talking about and I was very excited feeling that we were once again on the right track! Then to make me even more excited I saw at least two gentlemen in the rally crowd sporting clerical collars. I’m such a tard I actually asked the second one if he was clergy? He really was wearing that collar because he really was clergy! It was so healing seeing some of America’s clergy at that rally! Very healing after experiencing the Pat Robertsons of the world.
After the rally and floating on a cloud I went to the spot where the shuttles were picking up but it was very crowded and the parking lot was fairly well packed. I looked at all the cars attempting to leave and realized how silly it was that we were lined up for shuttles among all of the peace mongers who were also headed to Camp Casey.
There was a van nearby that had two people in it and I walked over and explained to them that my car was Camp Casey and asked them if I could catch a ride with them. You know, peace loving people are so rude if not dangerous, they of course said yes and I got in. I hoped to repay them by providing them with whatever camp trivia I could provide but they provided me with more I think.
They were friends who lived in Austin and had also come to Crawford to see Fahrenheit 9/11 when it was shown in the same location where we had just held the rally. For Fahrenheit 9/11 they said that 2500 people had attended, based on how full the parking lot and rally site were they estimated that about 1500 people had attended the rally. I was ecstatic! Not bad for a spontaneous protest huh?
We all slowly snaked to Camp Casey, and parking got kind of rough to find but we managed to find a spot that didn’t require too much walking. I lagged behind helping the driver with her camera while the other passenger headed quickly to Camp Casey. She asked me if she could film an interview with me and I was so happy I said yes. On the way to camp though I saw Daniel Torres’ Aunt wrestling with her photos and things that she was setting up in camp for the visitors to see. They were all of Daniel with his family and fiancee. One of her photos had fallen on the ground and the frame had come apart so we were picking it up and getting things situated when the woman who gave me a ride had to go back to her car for something. I became separated from her then and didn’t find her again.
The Camp was packed. I felt so good. I was standing back watching everything with fellow camper Julie. Julie turned and looked at me and said, “I was here when there was two tents and ten people and I’m tired, I think it might be time for me to go home.” At first I felt stunned. Go home? My husband had taken back his initial request that I return by Monday. When he heard my sparky voice on the phone and press actually began showing up at Crawford he told me to stay as long as I needed to stay.
Julie got in her car and pulled out. I toured through Camp Casey again and tinkered around. I had met one of the “6 or 7 from Bradblog” that morning and went and hung out with her for a bit. What a small world. I check out Bradblog and still wear my stolen election tin foil with pride. I told her that I was fairly certain that Soffie was pregnant too, will know shortly when we do an ultrasound but she is giving all the signs of being pregnant right down to having to pee every fifteen minutes. I have promised one of the puppies to Clint Curtis. She had one of those cool fans with the spray bottle attached and she even shared!
I went to see how Rebel Gary was doing. After all he had been there when I had left for the rally and he had only been counter protesting for a couple of hours by then. When I got to the place where he had been parked though he was gone. I went back to my Bradblog friend and realized that maybe for me my time to leave to had come also. The camp was packed and I turned to her and said, “I’ve been here since there was three tents and fifty people and I’m tired and I think it’s time for me to go home.” I think she seemed stunned too by what I said. We said bye and I went to my car and pulled out and through the crowd in the camp and thought that I would stop at Peace House to say goodbye to everybody there.
When I got to Peace House, trying to say the place was packed there also would be an absurd description. There was no parking so I rolled down the window and told the people out front monitoring the parking making sure that everybody was legal that I was going home. There were cars backed up behind me looking for parking so the best that we could do was blow each other kisses.
I was so exhausted that while driving to Cat’s and talking with my husband on the phone I drove through Austin without realizing it. When I called Cat and she realized what I had done she and her husband decided that when I got to their house I wouldn’t be driving any more for the day. I was so tired I woke myself up the next morning at her house with my own snoring, and I don’t think I snore much. At least my husband has never told me that I have done so since my last pregnancy.
The next day I drove all the way home. I got home at 3:00 a.m. Bama time and my son and husband were all cuddled up in our bed. I got to kiss both of them on the forehead and I slept until 7:00 a.m. and took the kids to school the next morning. Life continues now but in such a different way. I have hoped to share Camp Casey with everyone so that you all know that what you probably desire is out there and growing. We don’t need to feel unheard any longer. Yes, they will fight us but they also tried to fight us out there too and there is no stamina in them what so ever when faced one on one and toe to toe with us. WHEN YOU ARE RIGHT YOU CAN’T BE WRONG! It is something that the Torres’ quote from Pope John Paul II. I am not Catholic and I don’t think he was a perfect person but I understand what he was saying when he said that, and I don’t think he could ever have been more right about anything! I am on the Right side in this issue and I am Right and I can feel it in my heart and my soul along with my mind and body!