Real. Tangible. Love.

If you pay any attention to numerology at all, you may have heard that 2025 is a ‘9 year.’  
(2 + 2 + 5 = ….. you get the picture 😉)

‘9 years’ are a time of endings. They are a time to close chapters and prepare for new beginnings. The last ‘9 year’ we had was 2016. 

I don’t know about you, but that was a very significant time in my own personal history. It definitely facilitated the closure of an old way of thinking, and prepared my mind to start considering what could be possible, instead. 

We’re also coming up on another ‘9 year’.

The 9 year anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub tragedy, that took place on June 12, 2016. And I gotta admit, this year – it’s really getting to me. 

In the days that immediately followed the tragedy, I rode a tidal wave tsunami of love that lit up my city, and flowed through it’s streets. 🌊 And I understood instantly, the 49 didn’t die in vain.

The outpouring of love from all over the world was tangible.  
Literally.  
They sent homemade banners of love and tokens of support from all over the world!
Thousands of them! 
It made my heart soar!🕊️

Hundreds of people stood in line for hours to donate blood.🩸 
In Florida. 
In June. 🥵
Those that couldn’t donate- handed out water, snacks, & their gratitude – to those waiting in line. 🫂

My kids and I delivered smiles, & 🍪 – to people in our community: like the Taco Bell drive-thru attendant, and the Starbucks baristas. We made dozens and dozens of cards for the first responders🚔🩺🚒 and chipped in to send them meals.  

Everyone 
was doing something to help and/or show their support,
in any way they could,
all over Central Florida! 
It was love, 
and it was visible. 
Everywhere. 

I, personally, went to 11 funerals.
I went for my friends who weren’t yet ready to leave their house again just yet. Groups like, Gross Westboro Baptist were around, and I wasn’t about to let my friends, and the families in mourning, be bothered with ANY of that noise! At the time, I was devoutly Christian, and I was not going to let groups like that, depict the God that I know – in that hateful way! 
(The Creator is love and I know it!!)
((But that’s a story for another day.😉))

About 300 of us showed up in force outside of that first funeral with homemade signs of ♥️ and support. We did our best to block out the media trucks and news cameras so the families and friends of the victims, could grieve in peace. Our numbers dwindled with the heat of the summer sun, until only about 20 of us remained by the last funeral, a couple of weeks later. 

We started by carrying small signs of love, but they quickly grew into 7 ft. Angel Wings!!!🪽 I am honored to be a part of what began as a beautiful mixture of (mostly) bikers 🏍️ & community members, who wore their ♥️ on their sleeves. The two merging seamlessly, into one beautiful conglomerate known as the Pulse Angels. Along the way, we picked up more volunteers from around the city, until there were 49 of us. 

We did so many memorials and parades, I had bruises on my shoulder blades for months.🪽
But it was beautiful!  
It was tangible!
The love was palpable! 
It left calling cards. 
Literally.
 
I stood for hours – Wings on – at an incredibly moving, Inter-faith service, with
– so many different Religions standing together –
supporting the community.
Supporting each other. 
Citizens came together beautifully!
The way we surrounded and supported our first responders when they, very badly, needed it most❤️‍🩹… 
I am speechless.
It was love,
And it is sacred.
 
It ☄️catapulted my awakening
to stand witness to the amount of love created to counter that horrible, evil act. 
☀️It rekindled a knowing that woke up my soul!☀️
♥️‘Love is the answer!!! This is the way!!’♥️
It’s the purpose of our existence, and what makes life worth living!
That truth vibrated throughout my being!
And it was LOUD!!
It still is.
It was Real. 
It was Loud. 
It was Love. 

With the 9 year remembrance upon us, I look around and I have to squint to find any last vestiges of solidarity and support. The governor has banned rainbow colors on all bridges, and pride events all over the state are being forcefully canceled, and/or loudly condemned. I’ve even had one of my LGBTQ+ friends complain (to my face!) that there shouldn’t be so many straight women (of which I am!) – at Pride events.🙄

I think of the amazing community of bikers, who stood shoulder to shoulder with me on the front lines that first year, and it makes me sad to question if we would even still be friends – 9 short years later? 🤷🏻‍♀️

I look around me at the darkness and rapid decay in our society, and I want to scream, 
“Wake up!!! 
Don’t you remember!?!? 
Don’t you remember what love is like??! 
It was real!!! 
It was tangible!!!” 

…It made my heart soar… 😔

I wonder how it could get so bad, so quickly??? 
What happened? 
Why? 
But more importantly, how do we go back!!!??! 
Can we??

🤷🏻‍♀️
I wish I had the answers.

BUT…..

I DO know what we are capable of!!!
I’ve lived it!
I promise you, 
it exists!!
I’m out here – on the front lines fighting for it, 
and I will no longer restrain my soul from shouting it:
“It’s Real!
It’s Tangible!
It’s Love!”

It starts with small random acts of kindness. 
❣️Hold the door for someone. 
❣️Offer a bottle of water- or an ☂️ – to the homeless person asking for money on your drive home. 
❣️Smile at a stranger. (Maybe, even -especially– the one wearing a hat you don’t like.😉) 
❣️Paint rocks with little messages of love, & leave them random places around your city for people to find.

Let’s face it, Love & Kindness are acts of defiance – in a world where fear and division are encouraged! 
So…. 
GO BE DEFIANT!!!
Make a choice to be happy!!
Refuse to buy into the game of ‘Us vs Them.’
Spread joy.
Spread love.
Be Happy.
Be Defiant.
Be Love.

As I finish up my words, a Coldplay song, ‘Up&Up’, is playing on random. Spirit nudges me to pay attention to the lyrics, and I hear…

“Angels in the marble
Waiting to be freed
Just need love
Just need love
When the going is rough, saying
We’re going to get it,
Get it together right now
Going to get it, get it 
Together somehow…”

And I can hear the Angels🪽urging us to, 
Get It Together!
Telling us – we 
Just. Need. Love. ♥️

Real.

Tangible.

Love.




🌸Big Love & Many Blessings💗 

~ Amanda

©06/2025