On Saturday, blue skies and a gentle sun replaced the cold gray of Friday, and tears replaced the steady rain. At the corner of Connetquot Street and Miami Road in Oakdale, dozens gathered under a street sign wrapped in blue canvas.

On Monday nights, a small group of my colleagues from both sides of the aisle gather at a Capitol Hill Chinese restaurant and discuss how we can cooperate on various issues. I founded the group, the Center Aisle Caucus, several years ago because I was tired of the partisan gridlock and paralysis in Washington and wanted to spend more time developing solutions and less time blaming each other for problems.