Change Can Do You...

I guess it all depends on the change to figure out what, exactly, it can "do you"... Let's look at three examples:

On Friday night, on my way to Happy Hour with Christopher and a friend of ours (whom I haven't asked if I can name by name, hence the vagueness), I realized that finding a parking meter in Minneapolis at 5:30 on a Friday evening would be nigh impossible. So I decided to park in the $5 ramp. I had three dollar bills in my wallet and 52 cents in my pocket. (I hadn't planned for a cash need on Friday, obviously.) I figured it was no problem, because I always have quarters (for meters) in my ashtray. In fact, I had 5 quarters. Close, but not quite. I kept scraping and found 1 dime, 2 nickels and 3 pennies. So... doing math while driving... That meant I had $3.52 in my pants and $1.48 in the car... Exactly $5. I pulled into the parking ramp, and handed the guy all of the change, followed by the three dollar bills. He gave me my ticket and I parked.

When I woke up this morning, Christopher said "You may not want to look outside." Remember how I've been complaining about the weather? I opted to turn on the TV and check out the weather channel. It was informed that it was a whopping 26 degrees outside. When I finally looked outside, I saw snow on the ground. And not just a dusting, but actual snow. As we ran errands today, Christopher and I were watching leaves falling like rain from the trees, amid the snow. I looked outside late this afternoon and there was still snow along the fence in the backyard (where the sun only hit for a short time today). In case you're wondering, average highs this week should be in the 60s, with lows in the upper 30s. This is not normal. I am not happy. But, as one friend pointed out, how often do you get to see green leaves with snow? Even I have to admit that it was kind of pretty...

Tomorrow (Sunday, the 11th) is the National Equality March in Washington, DC. The "official" march begins at Noon, and the rally begins at 2pm. CSPAN is apparently going to be covering the rally portion of it, and I'm hoping to see it show up on most network news shows, as well. I won't be there, but you've already "met" a few people I know who will be marching for Change. I'm really proud of my friends who will be marching. If you're reading this and you're in the DC-area, I really hope you'll go stand and be counted and work to be heard. If you're not going to be in the DC-area tomorrow, I hope you'll continue working to be heard, wherever you are.

After all, a little bit of the right kind of change can do us all a lot of good.