Trespassing on my Territory

I like to think that I post less frequently because I'm doing so well with my grieving and don't have a lot new to say but the truth is more like "I'm tired of being a bereaved mother and I don't want to think about it any more" except ignoring it doesn't really seem to be working.  I am still here, working it out, and occasionally having moments when it's just as hard as it's ever been.

So, on to my topic, two incidents.  This first one is just going to sound petty but here we go:

I was really surprised to see the Democratic women wearing white to the State of the Union address last week.  My first thought, honestly, was "where did they find all the white suits?" and my second was "Why?"  Google supplied the answer to the why--they were apparently honoring the suffragettes who had campaigned until they won the right to vote for women.  Now, American Gold Star Mothers wear white to official events, and I've even worn a white suit in that very chamber of Congress as an invited guest in the gallery.  We are often referred to as the "ladies in white" and, while I hate being that conspicuous, it does make us easy to identify and locate in large crowds.  To see this other group of women wearing white for a whole different cause was sort of jarring.  I realize they have every right to do so but I felt a little devalued by their demonstration.  They almost certainly had no idea of this other meaning of wearing white, few people do, but a little research might have avoided some hurt feelings.  (However, a cursory search in Google on "ladies in white" or women in white reveals several meanings, none of them having to do with Gold Star mothers.  Maybe Google needs to get its act together too.)

And then a much more personal violation.  Someone used my email address, the one I created when I started this blog, to reserve a hotel room for three nights in Montego Bay.  I called the chain in question and explained my concern and they acted very quickly to make sure that no credit card had been involved.  The address does refer to my status as a mother who has had a loss and the customer service representative picked up on that immediately. So there I was once again explaining Thomas to a very kind stranger.   No harm seems to have been done to me or any of my accounts but I'm not happy that someone used an email I created for this very specific, not easy, purpose.