(s)Mitten

The living room was teeming with activity. 

We had come in from the cold and a somewhat impromptu inaugural party in the driveway complete with cake and the ritual mulching of Christmas trees. The mood was joyful as we warmed up by the light of a live television broadcast, and despite the chaos of competing sounds we were united as a family.

The husband was playing Risk quietly, not even shushing the room to hear the television; the daughter was riding imaginary waves on a balance board, clunking the plywood oval to the carpeted floor every so often; the son was adjusting the laces of new shoes, testing the tension and its relation to the hardwood-drag squeak. 

And I was giggling as I sat in my usual chair, virtually road-tripping with friends: 

Quick, what's your street address? I typed furiously into my phone. I hit Send without proofreading.

"Quik, Whot ist yur st aDdresS?"

A few dots later, a bubble appeared with the coordinates and a question mark.

"Good thing I am fluent in typo. ..."

I just giggled with the furious abandon of a squirrel with too many nuts and kept typing. Seconds later I sent my friend a screenshot of her Google Street Map address with Bernie Sanders sitting on a folding chair next to her mailbox.

More giggling as I typed in every address I could remember off-hand. More emailing off the hilarious results. 

It was delightful, casting myself (and all of my friends) into this magic of technology. 

And as it was nearing midnight on the first official day of a new administration, and I was finding that after taking a collective inhalation of relief, it seemed somewhat fitting that our first act of unity seemed to be dunking on the curmudgeonly senior senator from the Green Mountain state. 

There was something comforting about this moment, as the casually-dressed senator, his hands crossed and bundled in a pair of chunky mittens (handmade by a constituent of his in Essex Junction) started popping up in the strangest of places. 

Suddenly, Bernie was everywhere: He was riding The New York City Subway, sitting in art galleries, and even plunked down in the center of paintings. His likeness made its way to the landscapes of video games and television series. This new meme was pasted into old memes and added to map generators. 

It was nothing, but right now, at this moment, it was everything.

It occurred to me that this was the unity I hadn't expected. One that didn't rely on forgiveness or finger-pointing. 

Something silly and distracting as we gear up for the hard work ahead.

In so many unbelievable ways, this was the so-called 吐uture Democrats want.A future that includes recovery and revelry.

And one where the invective we've seen emblazoned on the front pages of newspapers for four long years start to sputter and fizzle out. 

We all know this winter will be harsh and unrelenting. But it just feels good right now to have Bernie and his mittens showing us how to dress for the storm.