I hope everyone who needed a break (as badly as I felt I needed one) actually feels like they got one! As I feel I did…
* * *
Fourteen banners in fourteen months.
Tomorrow, Saturday, will be five weeks since our 7,000-person “Trump Must Go Now” monster. Just three weeks since “Energy From Heaven.”
Four mornings after “Energy," I felt as though "something inside me broke.” Empty tank. (Later that day I looked down and saw the “range” reading on my car’s dashboard showing 2 miles worth of gas remaining!)
I realized that I simply had to take a break, let go of our banners to the extent possible. Needed to not fall asleep each night (and wake up in the middle of that night and then again the next morning) with the details of the next event or the wrap-up of the last event playing endlessly in my mind. You can only do that for long….
* * *
I drove to Point Reyes that rainy morning, and by afternoon found myself underneath sunny skies, all alone on Limantour Beach. For at least two hours, maybe three, on that four-mile stretch of pristine California coastline, I could see through my zoom lens exactly zero other people anywhere!
Just me...the waves, the sky, the
…and the waves and the hills and…...and flocks of birds calling my name (but mostly just ignoring me)…
It was a good start.
* * *
A week later I flew to Alexandria, Virginia, to spend a week visiting family and friends in the place where I grew up.
On the first night there, I saw a full moon (I’d completely forgotten that it was coming) rise into a purple dusk behind the Jefferson Memorial.
Again. Awesome. Fantastic to be alive...
* * *
During my afternoon walk in the woods yesterday, my first day back home in the Bay, I found myself once again acutely aware that we have an event permit in hand for Saturday, June 13, Stairwell 17. (Stairwells 15-20 to be precise — some 750 feet of sand canvas to work with.)
I started thinking not just of all the tasks ahead, but also of all the people who have come out of the woodwork this past year to help us manage the explosive growth of this “little project” of ours. And having just now scanned the above list of names, I am struck by just how much each of you — in your own way, through your own personal prism — is invested in this project as thoroughly as I am. And I feel a wave of relief and awe from knowing that…
* * *
It also hit me newly yesterday just how “big” this whole thing has become.
It is no longer arguable whether or not we are making a difference. At the very very least, I think it’s safe to say that several hundred people (and possibly many many thousands more) are waiting eagerly to see what we come up with next. They’re hoping it’s good. They’re hoping we can pull it off, hoping we can create and share another dose of extraordinary community, while creating stunning visuals that will carry a powerful message far and wide. Gulp!
I found myself wondering if this moment isn’t perhaps “too big” (as pro athletes say about their big games)? Once again, so many details to attend to. But my goodness, there are a lot of us. Strength in numbers…
* * *
I was planning to re-surface on Monday, May 11. But this morning it occurred to me to say hello to all of you who make this thing happen with me, Travis, Sally, Ed, Sam, et al.
And to say thank you for being in this thing together with all of us.
Blindly groping forward...
Warmly,
Brad
PS — Hoping to get the event posted to Mobilize shortly — maybe even today, but certainly sometime over this weekend — and then get back to work. June 13 is five weeks from tomorrow. And there are people counting on us.