This morning got off to a nice and easy start. We had nowhere to be until 1 in the afternoon, so today I had the pleasure to wake up without the horrible, jolting ring of alarms. I quickly got up and headed next door to take a shower and opened the door to lightly falling snow and a fresh layer of powder on the ground. There is nothing better. To add to the wonderfully relaxing morning I had time to catch up my reading (I started reading The Help at the start of the fall semester and am still only a little over half through. I never seem to have the free time to read!) with a nice cup of coffee.
Around 11 we headed out to eat lunch at Same Café. Same Café is completely volunteer run and offers a small lunch menu without set prices. Anyone and everyone is welcome for the meal; one pays whatever they can or donates what they think the meal is worth. And, if someone cannot afford to pay, they can serve for one hour in the café in exchange for the meal. No one is ever turned away. This business plan makes Same Café quite a unique place to eat lunch. People from all different backgrounds and lifestyles can come together equally and eat lunch together. Needless to say, it was a very cool place to people watch. And, the food was delicious, a definite plus. With extra time to spare, we decided to ask some of the volunteers working for a local coffee shop suggestion. (I can’t describe how glad I am to be surrounded by fellow coffee lovers. Trying local coffee shops is one of my favorite things to do and has been a top priority by everyone else on this trip as well.) After a brief conversation, we were about to set off to a bookstore just a few blocks down when one of the volunteers rushed out to our car to stop us.
“I don’t know why they told you to go there!” The woman told us and proceeded to give us directions to a coffee shop two blocks over that she promised had the BEST cookies. So of course, Anna and I had to split a cookie. It was delicious, just as promised.
After that we headed back to One Colorado and helped them get organized before their big kick-off event that night in Colorado Springs. I had some rather mundane data entry to finish up, but the rest of the group made some wonderful signs we took with us to the rally. Around 3 we headed out to Colorado Springs. It was quite a long drive, but so worth it. To start it off, we watched the video the One Colorado team made right after the Civil Union bill was defeated last legislative cycle. Some of the footage was heartbreaking to watch, but the hope and perseverance that everyone in the video showed was inspiring. After that, we listened to five speakers tell their story to show their support for Civil Unions. The one message that spoke loud and clear tonight was that this struggle is not about “if”, it is about “when”; someday, LGBTQ couples partnerships and the love they share will be recognized and respected and they will be granted equal rights to all other couples. As my personal favorite speaker said, “we will keep knocking” until that day comes. “We have always kept knocking to change things that weren’t right in our nation’s past, and we will continue to do that now.”
And now I am rather exhausted. I think it is a shared feeling among us all as we all sit silently typing away our blog posts in the church lobby with Mumford and Sons quietly playing in the background. It takes too much effort to make conversation.
Goodnight!
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