On January 22, 2014 I took my two teenagers with me to the Pro Life March and rally in DC.
We were lucky enough to get tickets for the Youth Rally and Mass at the Verizon center Wednesday morning. Our area was hit with some record cold temperatures and a moderate snowfall(for suburbs of DC) the night before. Even the Chickens would not come out into their run!
Wednesday at dawn, I took care of the hens to make sure they had fresh water and food. My son and daughter and I braved the blustery morning to go to the rally and Mass.
The Rally was inspiring. There was a band called the Iko Ndolo band ( a quartet which included drums, guitar, bass and keyboard). They sang and played praise songs and got the kids going in singing and worship that was a beautiful thing to see and hear. He had the kids ( and adults) out of our seats singing waving and dancing. There was a point where our section of kids started a wave and it went all the way around the arena. It was great fun. 
Then we settled down for a rosary and finally the mass.
I must say the procession with all the seminarians, priests, bishops , followed by the Cardinal is exceptionally grandiose. Yet having them process in at the Verizon center to contemporary praise songs sung by a rock quartet accompanied by a strong chorus of inspired young people brought it back down to a more modest tone.
The mass was celebrated by the Cardinal Wuerl of DC archdiocese . He was excellent. Opening his conversation with his audience talking about how Pope Francis had tweeted early this morning. The tweet was briefly a support for the pro-life marchers. The Cardinal was so pleased to say he retweeted the Pope, and that we should all do the same when we get a chance to. It is, dare I say adorable, to have a hip cardinal.
The priest who said the homily ,was a young priest from a neighboring parish, was so on target with his homily. He is that type of priest you covet when you visit the new parish down the street. The priest who has personality and compassion and all the things a priest should be as well as contemporary and aware of current events and trends.
After communion, and a lot of thank you s and “shout outs” to the various groups that came from near and far, Mass ended and we were to go in peace.
We did. in peace, love, and bitter cold. We listened to various speakers, but I must admit, my feet were cold! We found a drum line from the Benedictine College. They were awesome. My teens are musicians and my daughter is in the drum line in high school so this was perfect for us. We followed them in the march. We continued the march down Constitution Ave heading towards the capital.
The signs were creative and the chants were fun to join in. “Hey hey, Obama your Momma chose Life!” was our favorite. The biggest surprise was that as we approached the Canadian Embassy, there were about a dozen Canadians supporting our march for Life. They had signs and were saying things like “we support your fight for the right to life!”. They had Canadian flags and shirts with the maple leaf and Pro life slogans. And of course since they were from up north they were not affected by the bitter cold and winds. On the bright side, the sun was shining brightly.
Cold but we were prepared.
We were bundled and layered and tried standing among the many large groups of college kids supporting the right to life for BABIES!
That was another inspiring part of the day was just seeing so many young people from all across the country in the bitter cold willing to march for babies.
Afterward we headed to Union station where we warmed up and grabbed a hot meal. at first we just sighed at how toasty it felt to be inside. Once the thaw began we talked about how cool the experience was. As we ate we saw many compatriots carrying their signs happy to be in the warmth of the train station eatery.
The ride home on the metro was quiet. When we got home finally my husband greeted me with a steaming cup of coffee. It was the best cup of coffee ever! The next best thing was a hot shower.
It was a great day. And the best reward was that at the end of the day the kids came up to me individually and thanked me for taking them. They both said they had a great time. Even today we are recollecting the day.
This tropical blooded Mom is happy to be alive, even though it is below freezing.
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