Thankfully riding the rails and buses this Fourth of July

I spent the evening of the fourth of July listening to my neighbors set a chunk of their disposable income afire in the form of hours-long stashes of fireworks. Our house shook with what seem to my untrained - but not unscathed - ears to be military-grade explosive devices secured on the black market.  my mind turns inevitably to the topic of freedom. And earplugs. But mainly freedom.



We are celebrating the July 4, 1776 finalizing of the text of the Declaration of Independence, which created the United States. Even though people like me (Black, female, non-land-owning) were not technically covered by the benefits until the 14th amendment, I'm still grateful that people kept pushing to get it right.

I've written before about the woman I met in Portugal who renewed my patriotic ferver with her own reverence for American history. This year I took a moment to give thanks for the many freedoms I enjoy.

• Freedom of marriage choice (no forced marriages). Although my parents may have taken issue with some of the guys I dated when I moved back home after college, they were always supportive of me and gave their full blessing when my husband asked them about marrying me.

• Freedom of travel, (even without my father or husband, as some women in Saudi Arabia must do) which we did all weekend, traveling by safe, convenient, affordable public bus, then train to Portland, Oregon to meet up with J. 

 Bus ride to birthday party, followed by light rail ride to train.
 
Train ride to Portland. Nook Color keeping the kids entertained on the three and a half hour ride after the snacks and scenery grew old.

• Freedom of education. Yes, the public schools in our area are struggling and/or failing thousands of kids each year. But having been born in rural Louisiana to a young mom in a farming family and who was among the first black students (along with her siblings and cousin) to integrate her local high school, I know things could always be worse. Despite the barriers during the middle part of the last century, education was highly valued in our family.  I have two aunts who are teachers and most of my aunts and uncles attended or graduated from college. Education proved to be the ticket out of that small, limiting, rural town for them, and eventually me. 

So when I see pictures like the one above of Ava practicing her name in a fogged up bathroom mirror, I can't help but think of a time when she or I could have been killed for this simple, revolutionary act: learning.

• Freedom to nurse my almost-too-big-to-nurse kid discretely in public without harrassment. Unlike the Chicago mom who was recently harrassed by a bus driver (!) for nursing her two week old INFANT on a city bus (Breastfeeding mom harassed on city bus), we took transit all over on this holiday weekend (bus to preschooler birthday party, bus to light rail, light rail to Amtrak to Portland, Oregon) and with the early start and long, busy day, there were several nursing pit stops for Dylan. Not once was I hassled or even given more than a passing glance. No doubt in part because I did it discreetly and most folks probably thought I was just holding a sleepy toddler in the crook of my arm with a burp cloth draped over my shoulder. Nothing to see here. Just move along.

Freedom to pamper myself and my girly with a mommy-daughter pedicure.

All of these were my simple reminders of how amazing this country usually is, especially in comparison to places that are not as freedom-loving. The day after the Fourth, I overheard a co-worker remark: "I've always wanted to go to the naturalization ceremony and I finally did this year. It was so affirming! 525 people from 81 countries taking the oath of citizenship."

"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the armed forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."

Affirming indeed, and a perfect counter to the anti-immigration rhetoric that abounds in politics, talk radio, and elsewhere. Sure there are still plenty of narrow-minded, short-sighted, divisive activities across this country, like Georgia's anti-immigration law and health disparities based on socio-economic status. But take it from those 525 people: we've got a pretty good thing going here. Let's keep working on getting right. Happy Fourth of July.

Gas, border blunders, and rainbows enroute to Portland

How do you have a border blunder enroute to Portland from Seattle? Well, you have to try really hard. No, Homeland Security hasn't put the smack down on interstate travel. Actually, we were feeling a little cooped up this weekend and needed one of our long-overdue daytrips to Canada. Normally we go a couple times each month, but we've been a bit busy with household projects, then Mother's Day brunch at our place for the extended family, then recovering from brunch ;-), so the day trip kept getting shunted aside.

Also, gas is currently at $3.59/gallon (!) or more for premium here in the Seattle area. I recently put $66 in my tank after driving it until the little gas tank light came on and then the Distance 'Til Empty (DTE) mileage countdown stopped calculating. If my car could talk, it was probably saying:

Red gas light. DTE: 25 miles. You might want to get gas soon.
DTE: 16 miles. Uh, perhaps you didn't hear me earlier, what with the music cranked and all. But we need to get gas. Not now - RIGHT now.
DTE: 9 miles. Okay, you're making me nervous. We just passed a gas station. Ooh! There's another one! How about that one up ahead?
DTE: 4.5 miles. Please, for the love of Pete... I feel lightheaded...
DTE: *. I'm not talking to you anymore.

If my mom or dad is reading this, don't worry, this isn't a common occurrence. I was just trying to get to Costco gas so I could save a few cents/gallon. Which I did, but it just makes me angry to see gas so high when I can think back to college when I drove an '85 Pontiac Bonneville with a huge tank and gas was just a dollar per gallon. Yes, really. Because I loved that when I got my work study check and put $10 in the tank, it meant 10 gallons. These days, putting $10 of gas in the tank is like giving a thimble of water to a person dying of thirst in the desert. It's almost not even worth stopping for.

Despite all that, we opted for a road trip anyway because it's still a relatively cheap getaway. So we got up a little earlier on Sunday intending to go to Vancouver, BC. Until J. realized he'd left his passport and Nexus card in the car we dropped off for service Friday. Aaaargh. I've penned an ode to the joys of Nexus before, so you can understand our insistence on traveling with it.

You can still cross the border with a birth certificate and driver's license until next year I think, but he didn't have his handy and we didn't want to wait in line with, you know, those folks. The ones who are capable of driving up to the Peace Arch border and its GIGANTIC park and arch, passing multiple signs about crossing into Canada and leaving the U.S., who then wait in line for upwards of 10-45 minutes, and get all the way to the front either having buried their passport in the trunk under mounds of clothes and coolers, or having come through all of that WITHOUT THEIR PASSPORT OR DOCUMENTS. I mean COME ON. Were you in a coma for the past six years and just woke up last week and decided to drive to Canada? Does your doctor even know you're out? Isn't your license expired? It happens more often than you'd think. We see those folks and the poor drivers behind them who suffer for it whenever we cruise through the Nexus lane.

So instead of that hassle, we opted to head south to Portland to have lunch on NW 23rd and walk around the Pearl District's funky shops. It was... just okay. Partly because we had our hearts set on Vancouver, BC and partly because it was a chilly, rainy, craptastic drive and walk. I mean, we had a good time as usual spending the 2.5 hours each way chatting, listening to music and the BBC on satellite radio, and discussing news stories from there and from the NYTimes that I read aloud from my Treo. But it was pouring down rain the entire way, which put a bit of pall on things, regardless of the company.

There were several upsides to the trip though. First, we visited some friends from my TV days in Medford, OR who just moved up from San Diego. They're both still in news, so we played the "who of our former co-workers have moved where" game, and we got to see their adorable, precocious four year old daughter and giggly 5 month old son. They also gave us some much appreciated tips on baby gear, kid wrangling, and job juggling with little ones.


The second upside to the otherwise soggy trip came on the way home when we got some sun for about 15 minutes and saw this lovely rainbow. Aaaah. And of course, we spent several lovely hours in each other's hilarious company with nary a TV in sight. See? You can always find positives, even in a sea of rain-drenched dreck.