I am slowly piecing together the events of last week from my trip to sing at the Capitol. It might sound silly, but it's taking me longer than expected to be able to sit down and write about it properly because it was so overwhelming for me. It was way more than just the events of singing on the Capitol Lawn (something that no one in over 40 years has done), on my birthday on my first visit to D.C. It was the divine intervention of so may other things coming together to set me on a path I've been, unbeknownst to me, working toward all my life. Much more on THAT later :)
So in the meantime, the events are gonna come in bits in pieces. And I have to tell this blurb today after having coffee and enlightenment with a dear friend, and female guru, this morning. We were talking about being open to the world's opportunities and beauty around us, and not judging. And I don't just mean people. Not judging ANYTHING. Being open to every possibility out there, even ones we couldn't ever dream of for our own lives. And open to all people, experiences, outcomes...EVERYTHING. And it got me thinking of my dear friend, John Boehner. Yeah, I said it. Yes, I'm ridiculous.
Let me preface the rest of this passage with this...I am NOT making a political statement or showing my own opinions. Ok, my family back in Texas are conservative republicans. I need say no more for you to undetstand their views. My parents, sister and brother-in-law said to me, before leaving for D.C. "If you get a chance to talk to Boehner, tell him we said STAY STRONG!" I completely laughed, brushed them off, and said "I hardly doubt I'll get to talk to him, and I can assure you if I do, I ain't saying that guys!"
Fast forward. I finish singing. Speaker of the House John Boehner (yes, third in line to be our President),
starts his speech with "And Lindsay, great job. And I'm thankful we have great weather so you can wear that pretty dress without an overcoat." Then Congressman Tipton from Colorado graciously pulled me up quickly to meet Boehner and his wife before they got whisked away. They super graciously and childlike sang me Happy Birthday ("This. Is. Your. Birthday song. It isn't very long. Hey!" or something of that nature. I was a bit in awe of what was going on). His wife, Debbie Boehner, took a picture of he and I on her Iphone (we are tracking that down currently). And we exchanged such a lovely, human conversation, albeit short. He started to walk away, and I could sense my father in Texas shaking his finger at me to relay their message. "Um, Speaker...could I say one more thing?" I said. His wife pulled him back (all good wives have eyes and ears everywhere!). He came back and I told him "My familiy back in Texas want to let you know that they are supporting you and they say STAY STRONG!" Quick silence...oh my gosh...they think I'm crazy! He then got a big smile on his face and three of the Senator's wives came up to me and said "Thank you so much for saying that. He really needs to hear that right now and know he has support. It's really been rough on him lately and the support really helps."
It was in this moment I felt such a human connection with the third most powerful man. Regardless of your political views and whether you agree or not with his policies (and I know a lot of you don't because I've seen the negative comments on my facebook when I keep talking about him!), he's still a person. It's just his opinions and what he feels is right. And at the end of the day, he lays in bed with the weight of the world and probably has moments of elementary school when we get picked on in the playground and nobody likes you because you wore something stupid to school that day or you weren't cool enough to be invited to the skating party. Yes, his opinions have potential to effect the entire nation and for that we all get in line to bash. But, for that quick human moment when he was just a man (a very tan, handsome man!), I felt really good about relaying the message from Texas so that maybe, even briefly, he knew there was someoe out there rooting for him. Regardless of who you are or what you do, we all need that. Don't I know it.
If we're all connected, and I believe we are, this is something we need to remember on a daily basis. Politics, entertainment, economy...blah blah blah. We're all human. We all need a little support. So John Boehner....chin up buddy!! I love you man!! Cause after all, if you can't say it at Christmas, when can you?!

