I’ve been outed.

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It was a photo and video shoot.

I signed a release.

It was just after our first baby was born. We needed the money. My husband had just gone out on his own. I wasn’t working. The call came in.

It all seemed innocent enough.

I got paid. No harm, no foul.

Until… my mother in law emailed me today.

She wrote that she and my father in law were “surprised” to see me on TV today. She said I looked really “pretty”. OMG what is she talking about?!

I’m at about  :13.

You should see a video here. If not, refresh your browser. It will magically appear :-)

:-)

It’s stock video footage from a shoot I did 6 years ago. It’s for sale on Getty Images to anyone that would like to use it. So the Markey camp scooped it up. I have no idea why. I’ve watched it a few times and it seems that every other part of the ad is NOT stock. Except for me.

I wasn’t asked to be in it. I wasn’t asked my political affiliation or if I’d like to support Ed Markey. Yet, there I am.

It would seem I have been officially outed, as a Democrat. Because the truth be told I am a registered Democrat. I was an Independent for years but when the primaries for the 2008 election came around I registered as Democrat. Hillary was my choice. So I wanted to show up. I never changed it back.

I keep my political opinions pretty close to the vest. Every once and a while something slips out. But this? This is crazy.

Since I’ve been outed, let’s just get it all out there shall we?

I am pro-choice. I believe in marriage equality. I believe in single payer health care for all. I believe in respectful immigration reform. I believe in gun control. There. I touched on all the hot topics right? Wait. Voting rights? The environment? Oh I could go on. But I won’t, or at least I haven’t in the past. Equal pay? I guess I’m now the poster woman for that. “Equal pay for equal work.” Yeah, I’m down with that.

The vitriol spewed on Facebook, Twitter, and the “mainstream” media is disheartening to say the least. It doesn’t seem that there is a safe place to have a political discussion anymore.

Even among friends and family it gets difficult. I have relatives that won’t even speak to me anymore about certain things because they think they know how I feel about an issue. They don’t ask. They don’t discuss. They have just stopped talking to me. Weird, right?

What happened to Sunday dinners with lively conversation? What happened to taking sides and respecting the other person’s opinion. I may not agree with you, but you are certainly allowed your opinion. I am allowed mine. When did we stop allowing others to speak? Everyone has either just stopped talking or they just talk over each other.

Just chatting about the issues. Where has it gone?

Everyone is so certain. They feel right. And everyone else is WRONG.

Sigh.

This weekend I was introduced to Brene Brown. (Weird segue alert. Stay with me.)

I was not one of the 1 million people that has viewed her TED talk. I had not read the excerpt from her interview with Oprah. My mom told me about her a few weeks ago in regards to parenting. Last night, after being with my mom and her handing me her copy of Oprah, I read the article and then, finally, watched her TED talk.

“she writes that vulnerability—which she defines as being brave enough to “show up and let ourselves be seen”—is the catalyst for human connection.”

I have this little space on the internet and I have been struggling to find out why I’m here. Why, other than my wildly popular Four Hour Body post am I here? Is it potty training? Is it video? Why?

Well at times, I’m still not sure but, Ed Markey has forced me to finally show up and let myself be seen. I’ll be seen here, and at Sunday dinner, and at the polls. How about you?

Here I am! (waving)

Thanks Ed. (Oh and Oprah and Brene too ;-)