It’s a new day and I’m doing my best to get into the swing of things. We have a new President; not the one I expected or hoped for, and I’ll admit to feelings of fear, uncertainty, dismay even, but also hope. Hope because I’m a mom and that informs everything, and my daughters need my optimism. I woke up this morning feeling on the fringe, marginalized in a way I’ve never felt before. Of course nothing has ostensibly changed in my life and my feelings of otherness are purely of my own conjuring. But still, there they are, born from the seeds planted by months of negative rhetoric aimed squarely at people just like me. So what’s a woman to do? I thought about wearing a pantsuit, but then I also thought about freedom of self expression and honoring my truth, and the truth is I prefer dresses. So I wore one. If only life were always that easy. Until it is, I’ll keep dressing, and acting the part of the idealist and encouraging you to do the same.

With love,

Amanda