Rally Report VII: Back Home

We finally caught up with the other women again. My first impulse was to head toward L'Enfant Plaza, but fortunately, I decided Federal Center was closer. It turns out L'Enfant was having problems that afternoon.

The crowds were not as bad as I expected. Getting on before the train reached the mall area helped, as did waiting until we found the girls again, but most people were able to get on the train without getting crowded out. Typical New York rush hour subway trips were worse. By the time we got to Virginia, some seats had opened and I took advantage of my status to grab one. P was standing nearby; the other women had headed in the opposite direction when the doors opened and were somewhere further down the car.

At one point, P said "I keep thinking I'm talking to and then I look down and see that. That prompted the woman sitting in front of me to turn around and we started chatting about the rally. She was staying not far from the mall I wanted to go to, and came from California to see the rally. I was trying to figure out a way to invite her to join us, and I could take her to her hotel (and I could stop by the mall). I had to figure out how to explain it to my wife, and see if there was room for five in my little Prius. She wanted to head out with us, and I thought I'd have an opportunity to ask. Then P said "we should wait for your wife and J" and she said "if you're going to wait, I'll be heading out" and she took off. I think I found someone interested in my Meg side, but when she heard "wife" decided to avoid confrontation.

The drive home was fine. My feet were still good, and I enjoy driving dressed.

We got home, and I said I was going to change.

My plan was to not change right away. I planned to have something to eat or drink (I hadn't done either since the previous night, except for coffee), and maybe talk about the rally, and check on the tapes. Or I might have said "I'm going to change into something more comfortable." I had a top and skirt put aside to change into, just to keep the "joke" going. That would have been funny (to me at least) but a bit risky.

But the boys were home. I went upstairs and saw my youngest first. He looked at me and said "hi" like it was the most normal thing in the world. Then the older boy came out of his room and I turned toward him and he didn't say anything. I said "hi kid. How do you like my costume?" He just said "Ohhh Kaaaay" and I went into my bedroom to change. Later he said he thought some woman had come home with us.

I cleaned up, showered, changed, and went downstairs to rejoin our guests.

No-one really talked about the costume. No questions, no comments.... I really don't know what to make of that.

I was really hoping to open a dialogue with P, mostly so I could get a civilian's point of view, and maybe get some questions that I can't answer, answered. I'm still hopeful, but there's been no response to yesterday's e-mail (although we've written on other topics).

There's one more rally report post I have, but it's a part of the story that's not yet done.

---