She Believed She Could, So She Did – Insights on the Women’s March on Washington

“She believed she could, so she did,” is the saying on the bracelet on my left arm given to me by my friend Susan Bertrand of Maureen’s Hope Foundation, worn all the way the Women’s March on DC and back. Not only did I believe but so did the 110 women who traveled with me via bus with an friendly bus driver who performed a light show for us as we sang Donna Summer songs when the trip got long.

After landing in Fredrick Maryland for the night before the March, I threw a dinner reception for all these women who did not know each other. Some were in their 70s, a few in the 20s, some African American and some white, a few were Jewish and others Catholic but we instantly bonded over one cause, one heart beat and in unity. A dance party broke out which most women took part in until the hotel manager made me shut it down. Only women would dance together in song so joyously.

The father of two girls and wife who were in the next room, told me they were marching for women’s rights and asked if their family could join us. Next thing I knew I was dancing with 12 and 9 year old sisters smack dab in the middle of our big dance circle. “Y.M.C.A.” played and the two girls happily danced in the center of the circle of grown up women. At the end, I gave them both shirts and told them to continue to fight for what they believe in from this age forward. They hugged me three times and hopped off to bed because they were getting up at 4 a.m. to go to the march. You would have thought Santa Claus was coming to town.

The next morning after boarding a train to DC at the end of the Shady Grove Metro line, I struck up a conversation with two twenty year old college students from Maryland traveling in to stand up for “human rights”. We shared our hopes and dreams during the 30 minute train ride. They became new sisters in solidarity.

Then we stood, marched, held up signs, spoke to old women, young women, young girls and men all with different reasons for attending. We witnessed a group holding a 6’ long pink yarn uterus for a woman’s right to choose. We shouted up to a Canadian women in the tree with her daughter telling us we could move to Canada if things didn’t work out in the USA. We broke into chants, songs, hymns, and hugs with people we did not know.

In front of the Capitol Building, I ran into my ESPNW contact and was interviewed about the importance of supporting female athletes and why equal pay for women counts. Later that night the video was aired. In it you’ll see the enthusiasm that jumped into the interview with me – other women. I embraced it. It was about sisterhood – energetic, happy, sisterhood.

On the train ride home, I sat with a young transgender youth who proudly told me she had changed her gender. He was 15. Next to him was a young girl in the arts. They both told me about why they marched on Washington and their dreams. They shared photos with me. We hugged as we departed and I told them to keep up their own dreams and fights. They thanked me and went on their way. My heart was changed forever in that moment. People are good. Children are good. Our future will be good because of them.