Happy Birthday, Gabby

It was a fundraiser for Mark Kelly's Senate race, on the Saturday of Wear Orange for Gun Safety weekend.  Or, as my favorite t-shirt at the event read: United In Favor Of Not Getting Shot.  

Cameras and rapt attention greeted former Congressman Ron Barber (now Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick's District Director) who waxed eloquent and was waxed eloquently upon before Gabby got up to greet us.

She's doing better every time I see her.

The applause never gets any quieter.

The candidate recited his stump speech, touching on all the areas I care about, getting a round of cheers when he mentioned science and facts.  

I'd heard it before, so I thought about the scene, instead.  

I thought about how lucky we were to be there at all, watching the woman I saw sliding to the ground so many sunny Saturday mornings ago.

I saw her watching her husband talk about their first date ,at a maximum security prison in Florence,

and feeling the love. 

Look at him looking at her. 

It was almost enough to take away the pain - of TBG watching the corners and the exits, of missing CTG by my side, of wishing we were gathering for a Presidential bid for Gabby, of hugging those in the club no one wants to join, of feeling our losses all over again.

But then there was cake

Yes, there are holes.

But there are also moments of contentment, of coming together, of doing what people do when someone they love has a birthday.

We sang as she blew out the candles.