The Rosie Rally

selfieWell, hello again! Yes, it’s been a while and I’ve got SO MUCH STUFF to share!

*I actually wrote that sentence THREE months ago and have yet to publish this. SO much has changed and all of it for the better but seriously….THREE MONTHS?? OK, let’s get this show on the road, clean up and move on.*

This lovely selfie is from the Rosie Rally, held August 15, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. The organizers asked for 1,000 women to show up dressed like the Rosie from the poster to set a new world record for the Most Rosies In One Place (previously set in Michigan). I pulled out MY Rosie outfit, met up with friends and hiked over to the Rosie the Riveter Park in Richmond.

This was an official Guinness World Record event, so they had seats set up for us in a special sectioned off area so we could be counted. By drone. Slightly creepy 🙂

field

There were PLENTY of Rosies on hand –

IMG_20150815_143924Entire families showed up –

fanilyI LOVED these little girls –

kidsBut by far the most exciting part of the day was meeting REAL Rosies! This is my friend Thena talking to Priscilla –

thenaI was able to sit with her for a few minutes, and she signed our brochures because her original badge is featured in it!

brochureCheck out her badge at the top center of the page ^

priscillaShe told me she took the train out here from her family home in the mid-west after the war started. Her son was an infant so she put him in day care and went to work every day. The pride in her voice was quite evident. She did something many did but few believed could be done, she did it with an infant son and a husband away. And she did it WELL. Yes, I had to fight back tears.

There were commemorative flowers.

flowersActual soldiers in their original uniforms –

sodlierAnd a 95 year old Rosie that, until last November, was still working at an airplane plant in Long Beach. She retired in November, not because it was time, but because the plant CLOSED DOWN! She was a HOOT!! As she started seeing friends in the audience she looked at all the polka dotted head scarves and said “We never wore anything like that, did YOU wear something like that? I never did.” Lots of head shaking.
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96rosieHer grandson finally said “Grandma, we have to go. We have a plane to catch”. Lol 🙂

SO many scarves –

headscarvesSpeaking of which, if you remember my original outfit you’ll see that my polka dots were much smaller than these. When I checked in they looked me over and said “Those aren’t the right sized dots, take one of these”

scarfSo I did. Along with the requisite pairs of red socks.

seaofrosiesAnd then we sat in the sun. And the heat, it was about 90 degrees that day because of course. And we sweat, and fanned and we squinted. And we set the record! This is the aftermath –

aftermathAnd to add a little flavor to the day, look!

kissAll these guys did was wander around, kissing 🙂

Our official count was 1084 Rosies. We beat out the ‘old’ record of 776, and a few weeks later the gang in Michigan took the record ‘back’, challenging us next year to BRING IT ON!

More importantly over a thousand women came together that day to honor the women who moved mountains before them. No one wanted individual attention, they just wanted to be remembered that they were here and they made a difference. The fact that moms brought young daughters, some even infants, to soak up the living history lesson means those women will have a little bit of Rosie in their soul forever 🙂

Radio Free Richmond did a lovely little video of the event, which you can see here.

There is a list of all the interviews from that day on youtube here.

And here is KQED’s post.

I’m still trying to get several rooms in my house photographed. In the last four months I’ve left my previous job, started a new one, designed a show, started dating a lovely man and started ripping apart the acres of bricks and concrete in my back yard. Exhausted? Yeah, me too 🙂