I hope you read my previous post about My Labor Day Reflection. It’s been an interesting holiday. As North Carolinian songsmith James Taylor wrote, “I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain. I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end. I’ve seen lonely times where I could not find a friend.” (Except that last part…I always can find a friend when I need one, thank goodness ❤️.) But it has been kind of a fire and rain time for me.

From this context, I would say it began last Wednesday. I went to a Community Town Hall on the Broken Budget Bill. Despite being on holiday for a month and a half, when Speaker of the House Mike Johnson closed the US House of Representatives to avoid dealing with the public anger around the Jeffrey Epstein issue, NC Senator Ted Budd has apparently refused to hold a meeting where his constituents could voice their opinions.

But the Coalition Against Right-Wing Extremism (C.A.R.E.) stepped in for him. They organized community town halls in Charlotte, Greensboro, Asheville, and last Wednesday, Raleigh. As I assume they did in the other cities, they brought a cardboard version of our NC Senator to whom people could address their comments.

While I would have preferred to have our legislator in the audience, it was kind of fun to see people interacting with his cardboard double. One slapped his shoulder, as if to wake him up. One said to his face, “You are a liar.” Another addressed him in absentia for not listening to the impacts that his vote in favor of this bill would have.

Mostly, it was people speaking who work in the industries or with the communities the tax bill will hurt. Or it was people who had benefited in past from programs that were cut, particularly Medicaid and SNAP. One person who touched my heart was a mom who had a child prematurely who weighed 15 ounces…less than one pound. His survival chances were between 10-20 percent…and now he is a healthy and happy two-year old. But that required him spending more than 130 days in NICU, at an average cost of $9,000/day for that alone. Many of his costs were covered by Medicaid. But other premature babies may not have similiar benefits, thanks to the Republic tax bill.

Another speaker addressed the fact that it is estimated that 25% of rural hospitals may close due to cuts in Medicaid. He explained not only does that make ongoing medical care an issue, but it makes a huge difference in emergencies. We know that getting care from a heart attack or a stroke as quickly as possible makes a difference in survival or long term effects. But closing rural hospitals means much longer transit times for ambulances from/to hospital care. Which, frankly, means more people will die. Or if they survive, will have much more damage and ongoing need for medical support. Which not only creates more pain and suffering, but costs more money. How is that in the best interest of the American people? At least those who don’t make millions or even billions…

That made be feel really sad…to hear the stories of the negative impact this bill will have on people. Especially around health care.

Not necessarily on me–we have lots of hospitals related to the universities here, and there is no way those are going to close. But I grieve for my fellow NC residents for whom health care will be more expensive, more inconvenient, nonexistent, or too late to save people they love.

I worked Thursday and Friday. Then I went to my beloved Farmers Market Saturday morning. These farmers are the closest I know to what I consider to be “laborers” (again, see my post My Labor Day Reflection). So I bought as much as I could and thanked them for their work.

I spent most of that evening making gluten-free muffins, including Farmers Market fruit, to bring to Sunday’s Labor Day activity by my Spiritual Center.

Because Sunday morning, we provided breakfast for the staff, volunteers, and family member visiting patients at the Transitions hospice center:

I brought some bagels and baked some homemade gluten-free muffins:

The one on the left is a cornbread blueberry (made with frozen NC blueberries I got at our Farmers Market when they were in season). I used edible gold dust on the cornbread one, so it was sparkly in real life. The one on the right is an apple cinnamon muffin, made with local Goldrush apples I got at the Farmers Market this Saturday morning.

Other members brought coffee and juice, more bagels and cream cheese, fruit, and vegetable quiche. It was a good spread for a Sunday breakfast.

We served many family members, and left the food behind for those who came to visit after noon. But we probably served more of the staff and the volunteers. Given that it was Labor Day weekend, it seemed right that we were serving the workers for whom this was not a holiday. Because people with medical issues need care 24/7, regardless of calendar holidays. Everyone–staff, volunteers, and family members–were very appreciative. I think we were all touched by the ability to serve those who were serving others.

The next day, I went to the “Workers Over Billionaires” protest. This time I went with some of my homeschooling friends, who I’ve known for over 20 years and continue to love dearly. We raised our children together and that experience has bonded us forever.

The pictures at the top are from that protest. But this one represents my feeling perfectly (I blanked out people’s faces because I didn’t get permission to share them).

There was a great energy at the protest, so I was glad to be a part of it. Here is my sign for Workers Over Billionaires:

I also went to another protest the next day in Cary: a Save Our Cities protest. Here is my sign for that:

Not my best sign, but we held them up for people driving by, who probably can’t see all the gaps. We got plenty of honks in support, so that’s what matters, right?

In between, I did make a special meal for our Labor Day Dinner. But that will be a post of its own.

So this was so much more than an end of summer barbecue. It felt more in touch with the roots of Labor Day. It felt good to be in service and to speak out about causes I believe in. And really, that matters more than food.

But tune in tomorrow to find out about food…which was pretty fun too!