It's About More Than Mittens

Or Why I Am Obsessed with the Bernie Memes

I think I am starting to scare my family. I can’t stop laughing at the Bernie memes. Rob and the girls are pretty sure I have lost my mind. The one above is my favorite but I love them all. Bernie at the soccer game. Bernie on the set of Friends. Bernie in front of anyone’s house. They all make me laugh so hard that I start to cry.

Last night, as I sat on the couch laughing hysterically yet again, I realized something. These memes are about way more than Bernie, his mittens and his manilla envelope. They are about relief. They are about joy. They about the breath I had been holding for the past four years. And I’m pretty sure I am not alone.

For years, we have been connected to each other in fear. In disgust. In anger. For years, each time I spoke with friends, our conversations would ultimately turn to politics. And those conversations were always upsetting. There was always something new to worry about. Something new that made us shake our heads. Something new that made us think- ‘Wow- this is actually worse than I thought it would be.’

And now finally, we are connecting in humor.

Don’t get me wrong. We are still in the midst of a deadly pandemic. Our country is still buried in a history and a present of white supremacy. Everything is far from rosy. But the collective joy we all sharing over a mitten-wearing man, sitting in a folding chair watching history on his way to the post office is pretty special.