Picking up from yesterday –
And when I told him what I said here – that I sooo believe in being kind to unkind people, but in this instance, I’m struggling so hard to understand how, he told me kindness starts with yourself and that I should be kind to myself by allowing myself to feel these totally valid, very strong emotions.
He thanked me (can you believe that – how sweet) – for going out today and sharing my story… And he thanked me for not allowing myself to be silenced… He told me to keep talking and that maybe it would give someone else courage to talk in the future.
He always knows the right thing to say. (My goodness, I can’t wait to campaign for him for POTUS in a few years… I’m assuming. I’m not that close enough with his office to know what’s going on there… But I’m an American citizen, and we all know what’s going on there, right?)
Anyway, a random selfie story to leave you with: After Cory’s talk with me, I asked if I could grab a picture. Weirdly, even though we have a ton of pics together, I had yet to have one of those good ol’ patented Cory Booker selfies…
So, we grabbed one… But when I looked at it, the lighting wasn’t great and we were kind of blurry. Oh no!
But so many other people were bothering him that I thought, “I have plenty of photos. It doesn’t matter.”
And I went outside. While I was waiting for uber, I happened to start up a conversation with Cory’s driver. (I didn’t know it was Cory’s driver at first – just talking to a fun, new stranger.) And when Cory came out, he said hi again. Then I thought, “Well, my opportunity is staring me in the face right here!”
So, I sheepishly asked if I could have another selfie, and he was so graciously sweet in obliging – not just obliging, but obliging with love and excitement in his voice.
We practically did a selfie photo shoot, he took so many. Haha. We kept making slightly different faces and laughing. Funnily enough, the one I thought was “silliest” (where I was trying to look too model-y or pose-y – like, in a funny way) was the one that actually came out best (pictured at the top of this post).
So, thank goodness for Cory Booker. I went to the source – my role model – for advice (and selfies). And he did not disappoint (on either front).
[This post is from the series on sexual assault.]