Ragtime is My Time Anytime

I’ve handed over my calendar to Herc. I hope he sits there and protects the blank spaces.

I sat my retired self in a county meeting for three hours this morning. My watch, which is very wise in the area of personal discipline and timing everything, told me to Stand Up! But when I did, I found that my pants had written up on my calves, so it looked like I was wearing pedal pushers. So dignified.

I helped a woman in actual pedal pushers fill out her form to speak. She’d never done this before, she explained, and she seemed very excited and nervous. And about as salt of the earth as a person could be. She wore rubber gardening shoes, like just minutes before she’d finished weeding the tomato patch. I liked her. She had a giant smile, but I knew for sure she would be speaking against the motion I would be speaking for. And she did. When her name was called, she stood up and yelled, “Can I just talk from here?” and the chair of the committee told her no, you have to sit at the table and speak into the microphone. So she did. Democracy is all over the place if you show up for it.

This is the third committee meeting in two weeks on the same proposal having to do with building a new senior center with senior housing in a county park. It’s that last phrase that has tripped people up pretty bad, which I get, but to me the good way outweighs the risk. Trust me on this (or not) because the explanation is too lengthy and boring for this tiny space.

Anyway, I decided to swap out my Nothing Changes If Nothing Changes t-shirt which I wore with nice pants and a cute blazer for the first two meetings on this issue for my new Be Fierce t-shirt since I thought I could use a little inspiration and might impress decision-makers with my chutzpah. I’m not exactly licking my wounds, but a 3-3 vote is no victory.

I’m accumulating a whole collection of protest t-shirts including Hands Off Medicaid, Hands Off My Social Security, Thinking I’m Just an Old Woman Was Your First Mistake, and Resist Fascism, among others. I’m thinking this is going to be my new thing – being an old lady political billboard everywhere I go. Why not?

The full County Board meeting on this issue is next week and I don’t have a clue which t-shirt to wear. Something new, maybe, with a hint of resignation and an inspirational message of hope, all with an aging motif. The search begins tonight.

I need more closet space, for sure.