It is time for women to stand up and say, "we're doing this a different way.

This image was not staged.

It was not planned.

It was not our first time crying together.

It will not be our last.

It took some scraping through the iron layers of our anger to get to the soft, bleeding, tender, grief that pulses beneath it.

But there it was. Begging us for space. For full expression. For witnessing.

She held me.

I held her.

I stroked her hair.

I whispered, "I'm here."

We cried for ourselves. We cried for our sisters. We cried for our brothers, our mothers, our fathers. We cried for our leaders. We cried for our daughters and sons. We cried for our country, the earth, the devastation, the insanity.

We wept in a sacred container.

Afterwards we took some deep breaths, drank some water, and then we danced and laughed.

Then we sat down and said a prayer.

Then we went back to work. To action. To our collective mission.

Renewed. Refreshed. Re-membered.

The world is insane. And if you think it's not - you are insane. It is time for women to stand up and say, 'We're doing this a different way.'"

Grateful to all my Sisters who are standing up and for the ones before us who did the same.

We're doing this a different way.