These are hard times, not end times.

David and I wandered to D.C. a couple of weekends ago to take part in the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, along with a couple hundred thousand other lovely folks. Dave had called me five minutes after the rally had been originally announced to see if I wanted to make the trip, and I'm so glad that I did. It was silly and clever and surprisingly thoughtful, and I enjoyed the audience as much as the individuals on stage. The rest of the perfect fall weekend was spent wandering the beautiful buildings, lunching in Union Station, resting on monuments, snacking on museum steps, racing in hotel hallways, trying to pass for locals in dive bars, and spending time with some lovely friends, although only half of the friends I had hoped to see. And the West Wing soundtrack was playing constantly in my head.