I'll just start by saying thank you to all of you wonderful Pro-Lifers who are in this movement! We really are a movement to say the least because we really do MOVE! As some of you know, I had gone to D.C. for the March For Life. This was my fourth time attending and I just gotta say... it never ceases to amaze me how overwhelmingly inspired and touched I get every single darn year by seeing our movement in action. Like...OMG...just..again....AMAZING!!
After a very stressful and chaotic fiasco with the "perfect" marching boots (Let's just say, two rights make a wrong. :|) I was finally on the road... seam busted suitcase, blow-up pillow, and all. My trip started out by driving to Kalamazoo where I met up with my friends from Students For Life at Western Michigan University. We piled into the party van and drove to Grand Rapids where we met up with all of the Students For Life of Michigan and got on the charter. Yes, I know I am no longer a Student For Life, but whatever... I was repping YPL and who can resist one last trip with that awesome group?
So, after a very long drive and very uncomfortable positions of bus sleeping we arrived in D.C. We all piled into a storage room to make small changes to our outfits and brush our hair for once. No showers. My friends and I found a quick breakfast and then a coffee shop where Alissa (my best friend/President of SFL at WMU) and I could hold up the extended bathroom line by locking ourselves in to brush our teeth, fix our hair, and apply makeup. We had to look perfect. And it was rally time! We were ready with handwarmers and all. Every year I have to make sure I am able to attend the rally. So to the National Mall we went. This is where you get to see how united we really are. I look around to see elderly, students, children, Catholics, Protestants, atheists, voters, politicians, everyone all there united with each other to stand for life. I was really pleased with the inspiring speakers this year. Kristan Hawkins (President of SFLA), political leaders, post abortive people, religious leaders, all amazing. Finally, it was the moment I had been waiting for. The March For Life! We marched on Capitol Hill up to the Supreme Court. There were 650,000 of us to make a statement to our government on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade that the law should be overturned. For those of you who don't know because the liberal media refuses to report it, this is the largest protest in all of the universe. I was so happy to be a part of it! Crowded with Pro-Lifers around me, not seeing from end to end, I was standing up for those who can't... including family members. While walking through the march, you see signs with quotes, groups names, represented schools, Catholic leaders of every order including Friars and seminarians, graphic images, and passion
. What you hear is more powerful though... Chants, tears, and prayers. Oh, the prayers. I absolutely love hearing an overwhelming amount of Hail Marys being recited all around me. I was happy I got a chance to break in my two Pro-Life Rosaries. What better time and place to do so right? At the end of the march, we came upon the Supreme Court where everything had started 42 years ago. There we saw some signs FOR abortion... and sure enough there were about a handful of Pro-Choice counter-protestors. I tried to get closer, as well, I love arguing. By the time I reached where they had been, they disappeared. Come to find out these Pro-Choicers had attempted to hold back all 650,000 of us and block our protest. Aw, bless their hearts. :D Needless to say... they were arrested. Again, I was just so moved. Another march successful! Shortly after, we walked another couple miles to the Pro-Life expo where we got some free books and talked to organizations. I got to hear a testimony from one woman that had been conceived in incest rape. She told us how much she loved her life and her mission was to end the "exceptions" thinking because her life has just as much value as anyone else's. After the expo, we finally got to check into our hotel rooms and relax for a bit. It may seem obvious, but ladies, boots with 2 inch wedges and another 2 inches of heels is NOT ideal for marching. Ouch! They were cute and they were fierce! After relaxing, laughing until we cried, and annoying all the neighboring rooms of groups ("Oh, that Western group!") we got to go out to eat for dinner and drinks. These moments with this group of people who I call some of my very best friends are the ones I cherish. After dinner, a few of us got to do some sight seeing and take LOTS of pictures. Ol' Abe is always my favorite. After we hobbled back to our hotel room once again exhausted, (Flats aren't ideal either..) we finally got to sleep. I never thought I'd be so grateful to be sleeping in a bed... horizontally.
I got a few hours to sleep and wake up to do it all over again because it was conference day! The other girls slept in to do some sight seeing and tours instead of the conference so I tiptoed around the hotel room with iPhone flashlight in hand, packing all of my universe and more into that poor busted suitcase once again, got CLEAN, and fixed myself up for another big day. I got downstairs in just enough time to put my luggage into the storage room again to be stowed on the bus and to grab myself a bagel for the ride. As a new member of Allies For Life I got a free ticket into the conference and I was happy when we arrived. Being that I already graduated meant I put more thought this year into talking to and joining organizations that were represented. I was also happy to see it all again through the eyes of SFLWMU new member, Nate. It gives me a whole new look at how inspiring and moving it is. Immediately we began to run around to several tables gathering as much free things, information, and Pro-Life passion that we could get. I was stopped by a woman who worked for Family Research Council and after talking to her for awhile, she decided that I was apparently "perfect" for an internship there. She thought their President would love to talk to me so she kept calling "Josh" out from behind the wall. When he wouldn't come to talk to me, she finally told me to come back later to speak to him then. I thought, "What's this Josh's problem?!" The conference went on and again I was just so inspired! Stephanie Gray, the emotional video of aborted babies that makes me bawl every single year, finally being able to check hearing and seeing Abby Johnson off my bucket list, going total fan girl over seeing my hero, Lila Rose again, raving out to Christian Pro-Life music from Transform DJs (who I'd like to point out were wearing the shirt that my ex-bf designed), seeing a preview for the newest Jason Jones Pro-Life film, talking with the Sisters For Life about a possible future retreat experience, AND seeing the DUGGARS (19 Kids & Counting).... including JOSH Duggar... who was introduced to us as the president of the Family Research Council! So that's who was hiding from me, ya little sneak! These were just to name a few of the awesome things at the conference. Walking away with stickers, pins, books, education, and of course more inspiration than you could ever imagine once again for the fourth year, it was another day I will never forget.
Our bus was there to pick us up with my other best friends already stowed away and we were off again on a long trip home. We had to switch buses at 3 in the morning, because well we just didn't have our annual fiasco yet, that's why, but we could finally sit still and SLEEP! Oh, and there was some Fox movie? Anyways, like I said in the beginning... this trip was AMAZING! As I am home now and fall back to normal ins and outs of life I look around me and appreciate life and all of the blessings within it that God has given me just a whole lot more. No, I am not on something as I write this, but we are all just beautiful people. I mean it. So, in summary I don't care if you are black, white, brown, yellow, purple, short, tall, prodigal, disabled, conceived in rape, incest, love, or a one night stand... you are here for a reason and YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!
Every life is a gift and that is why we march.
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