Sunday, October 26, 2008

Holding Hands with Hillary

That's right, THE Hillary. 

I wasn't always a Hillary fan, in fact, I didn't know that all Democrats weren't Satan's warriors until my sophomore year in college.  

When the Presidential Primaries began, and there was talk of Hillary throwing her pantsuit into the race, I was thrilled.  Finally a woman with the chops to be President, and a real chance to make that dream a reality.

So imagine my incredible disappointment when she fell a  perfectly highlighted hair short of the nomination. I will vote Obama, but only if they don't leave me enough room on the ballot to write in Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Hillary made a trip to our Sun City during the Primary season, and Amy and I went to the Don Haskins Arena to see her with 20,000 of our closest friends. Needless to say we didn't even get close enough to see the color of her pantsuit without binoculars.

Last week, we got word that Hillary would be coming RIGHT HERE to our tiny town to stump for Obama. She would be speaking just down the street on Saturday afternoon.

Sleep was elusive Friday night, all I could think about was getting up, putting on my "Bitch is the New Black" shirt, grabbing my "Hillary is My Homegirl" sticker, and getting my spot at the speech.



Saturday morning that's exactly what we did (but Amy would NOT let me wear my "Bitch is the New Black" shirt) and when we got to the park, we were pleased with our spot. Not right in front of her, but pretty damn close. So we waited, about 2 hours (she was an hour late), but when she took the stage, it was electrifying.



After her speech, most everyone but the ones right up front began to leave and find their cars, but Amy and I decided to hang around and see how close we could get to Ms. Clinton. 

At first I was (frustratingly) about 4 people back, just far enough away from the front line that I couldnt get her...........attention ; ) 



 However, as I further surveyed the situation, I realized that if I hopped a strategically placed bleacher, I could tuck myself in the last little corner of the handshake line. 


I slid into position just before she she got to that point, and immediately shoved my "Hillary is My Homegirl" sticker over the lady in front of me, and right into Hillary's line of vision. When she saw the sticker, I reached out with my other hand, and she shook it and said "Oh I LOVE that!". I screamed "I know, do you want it?",  she hesitated, and finally said, "No, you keep it" to which I replied (all of this taking place over the two short people in front of me) "No, I have two", and as she grabbed it from my hand she said "then YES I want it!".

At this point she realized I still had a death grip on her hand and removed it from my grasp (with a little help from the secret service) and was rushed into her green SUV (WITH MY STICKER!!!!)

It was definitely a moment I will never forget, a highlight for sure. I would have loved to have had a picture with her, and my sticker, but I am tickled pink that I got to have a mini conversation with her and that she took my sticker. She looks great for all she's been through, and she is a woman who deserves so much respect. 


2 comments:

Heather said...

I LOVE IT! The pictures are perfect. But not as perfect as Hillary leaving WITH YOUR STICKER!

Perfect. Truly perfect :)

Kristen said...

I still can't believe it. I still scream a little when I think about it. Too COOL!