You're invited...

to a FREED SPEECH protest and a Plant Pets event at Flyleaf Books

Dear Frog Troublers, we missed you last weekend—we were with Mamie and Steadman (pictured above) in Atlantic Beach following Grampa’s memorial. The memorial was sad, of course, but also perfect: we saw so many friends, cousins, coworkers, neighbors who gathered to remember and express their love for Grampa. Before the service, held at Sky and Cheryl’s church in Richmond, we had a little display of photos, a beautiful painting by Mamie, and an old favorite T-shirt on display, which reads “Health Reform: Still a BFD.” We had a copy of the obituary that ran in the Country Courier, and Grampa’s ashes, held in an vase that was made by Mamie and Grampa’s dear friend Jumbo Wilde, who died years ago. I think his mischievous spirit was there, and I know that Grampa’s was.

Mamie—who is all of 5 feet tall, sits on a pillow to drive her car, and frequently requested for selfies with strangers—stood up first in the sanctuary. She looked so tall up there, confidently and graciously welcoming everyone. She told the story of how she met my dad, in 1971 in Richmond. She and her artist friends rented a row house that was heated by a potbelly wood stove that they had absolutely zero fuel for, and they’d just met the nicest guys from West Virginia. One was my dad. They had a “cosmic connection,” my mom said. She said she looked in his eyes and saw her children, and even her grandchildren.

So many wonderful speakers followed her, inspired by her awesome strength—Richard shared funny-scary-sweet memories of working on our house with Dad—but I want to share a piece of advice that came from my brother, Sky, who in my opinion gave the very best remembrance of all. He said he’d learned, through this experience, that almost nothing you can say to a grieving person helps, but five words from a friend he rarely sees, but who’s known Sky since high school, made a huge difference: He was proud of you. Sky told the assembled friends and family that our Dad was proud of them, too, and that when he told stories about his friends, from long ago or just last week, the message behind it was pride that he knew them, that they were doing so well, that they were the people they were.

One more small thing: remember how I told you that my dad used to give a Lynchburg plumbing supplier a hard time, every time he saw him, for being a Trump supporter? And eventually helped him realize that Trump had never done anything at all to help him? That kind man was there, grieving with the rest of us.

The beach was a wonderful respite after an intense few days. We celebrated Harriet’s birthday (she turned seven on Monday), played ball with Steddy, ate a lot of delicious seafood, took walks, splashed in the ocean.

Now we’re back home, and trying to do more things that would make Grampa proud. We’d love to invite you to two of them, coming up:

The first is a FREED SPEECH protest against Trump-banned words being struck from government reports and used to target and eliminate helpful, essential community programs and research across the country. Like the $14 million grant for school-based mental health services in Wake County, cut off on the grounds that they promote diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Join us and Writers for Democratic Action tomorrow, May 5, on the South Side of the State Capitol grounds (1 E. Edenton Street) to speak, shout, and sing some of these targeted words. The protest will run from 11-2, so stop by any time or stay the whole time, if you can. Bring a sign—anything painted on the back of some cardboard works great. So many words to choose from: Feminism! Breastfeed + people! Female! Women! Transgender! Native American! Black! Latinx! Disability! Climate science! Clean Energy!

This is a permitted, peaceful rally. Bea and I will both be there with signs we’re making today. I think I’m gonna bring some tomato seedlings to give away—I’m aiming to be the Johnny Appleseed of organic tomato plants. It’ll be good to see you there. Thank you to Jill McCorkle and Bland Simpson for organizing it.

Next, Bea and I would absolutely love to see you next Saturday, May 10, at Flyleaf Books for an 11:00 reading/demo of Plant Pets. We’ll have some stickers, signed books for sale (they make great gifts!), and will probably bring some plants to propagate and share, along with some materials about Public School Strong, our favorite way to fight for honest, accurate, safe, and fully funded public education. See you there?

Lots of love and solidarity from us. At some point today, may you feel as free and joyful as this little dog, running on the beach: