Seemed like the real thing, but I was so blind

When the alarm went off this morning at 6:00, I woke to a news bit about the update on a murder case of a kid who happens to have had the same name as the guy I was once deluded enough to be engaged to. There was something satisfying to hear "...in the murder of [insert ex's name here]" from a reputable news source. Sighing happily and realizing I didn't have to get out of the office early, I reset my alarm for 7:00 and dozed on and off for the next hour.

Once I did get up, it only took me half an hour to get dressed and ready for the day. So, I woke up an hour later than normal, but got in only a half hour later than normal. I love it when that happens. Of course, it makes me wonder why it takes me twice as long to get ready on my supposedly "normal" days.

Mr. Bush is in town today. Yes, Mr. Bush...I mean, he wasn't actually elected to his office in the first place. And, as Paula Poundstone used to say about Bush the Elder when he was President "He's not my president." Clinton will always be my president. He was the first one that I voted for.

About a week after I moved to MN in 1996, I went to the MN State Fair to get to know more about my new state of residency...and to kill time until I got a job. So, I hopped on my bike and rode to the fairgrounds. It so happened that Al Gore and Paul Wellstone were giving speeches at the fair that day. Yay! So, I listened to them speak and, afterwards, was acknowledged by Paul Wellstone. It made me proud to be a liberal to be in the presence of those two great men.

Throughout my senior year as an undergrad, one of my housemates who originally hailed from MN would watch C-SPAN obsessively to catch any moment that Paul Wellstone was speaking on the Senate floor. When he was, she would yell out "THERE'S MY SENATOR!!!!" and grab any passer-by to make them watch and listen with her. When I was accepted to UMN for grad school, she took it upon herself to educate me on how to fit-in. So, we would talk hockey, she would teach me how to communicate with the natives (including the "oh for" combo used almost exclusively by women), and she educated me on the history of the DFL.

A year after I moved to MN, this same housemate graduated from college and moved back to MN, becoming an active member and officer in her local DFL ward in St. Paul. She would bring me along on pub crawls with the group and try to get me involved more, but I guess I was definitely of the opinion even then that my time in MN was temporary...I felt sort of uncomfy since I wasn't going to be committing to the state. However, I threw my support in with them and their activities. I also helped set up some databases and did some emergency computer support for the friend at her job for Project 120 (educational program about the MN state legislature for high school students).

Since leaving MN, I have had the honor of voting for Barrack Obama and other leading liberals. However, I still see Paul Wellstone as the greatest and MY SENATOR, even though it has been years since he and his wife tragically died. And, whenever I see or hear Norm Coleman (widely viewed by MN Democrats as a turncoat since he changed parties from the DFL to Republican while Mayor of St. Paul) I feel physically ill and angered.

Back when I was a wee kidlet living in northern WI, my mother took me to a political rally where Geraldine Ferraro was speaking. She thought it was important for me to see a woman who could possibly be Veep or even President. This is the same woman (my mother), who had me with her when she and the rest of the local NOW chapter symbolically chained themselves to the county court house in support of the ERA. Now, she tears-up whenever she even hears Barrack Obama's name. I don't know if it is pride that does it, exactly. I think it is a sort of sadness that someone like Senator Obama is seen as being so rare...the ideals he stands for in her mind and the simple honesty that she thought would have been common after the 60's. When she teared-up while telling me about his biography and I asked her, she got all embarrassed and told me that she hadn't felt that way about a politician since Robert Kennedy. Maybe the tears are also caused by fear that Senator Obama may meet the same fate as RFK because of continued stupidity in this country and she is still in mourning over RFK...

...similar to my own mourning for Paul Wellstone.