Blue skies, seventy degrees, a light breeze cools the corner where twenty or so of us line the curb, waving small American flags and holding signs or wearing sign boards. My sign says We Love Clean Water and Air and my husband’s banner, from FCNL,* reads Love Your Neighbor – No Exceptions. Ours are the most polite signs here. There’s a lot to cuss about these days.

It’s a tough crowd out this Saturday morning. There are spasms of supportive honks and beeps as cars drive by. Some people wave and smile or show a thumbs-up. Others give us a thumbs down or The Finger [correct response — stick out your tongue] or gun their engines and flood our grassy corner with black smoke. But most drivers keep their eyes straight ahead and ignore us.*

Over the cacophony of traffic and horns honking and the cheerful beat of ‘It Ain’t Fun Being MAGA No More,’* a friend introduces me to a woman who recently moved to Lakeside, just a few short blocks from me.

The circumstances are not conducive to conversation but we manage to cover the basics: Where are you from? What brought you to Richmond? Do you like the neighborhood?

Then she asks me, “Do you know the woman who walks the small dog?”

This is hilarious! There are SO many women walking small dogs in Lakeside. And quite a few walking large dogs, or two dogs, or running with a dog.

To narrow down my choices, she tells me the dog-walking woman had white hair. Ha ha ha! (White hair is hardly a distinguishing characteristic among dog walkers in Lakeside.)

So what’s to do? I give her my address and phone number. My new neighbor and I need more time and less background noise to figure out the pressing issue of which woman with which dog. And, since we are both dedicated to making the world safe for white-haired women walking dogs—and everyone else— I suspect she and I have a lot more to talk about.

First *: Friends Committee on National Legislation, the oldest peace lobby in D.C.

Second *: This attitude could be part of what got all of us into this sorry state.

Third *: Blue tooth speakers can be BIG.