Thoughts from my Grandmother

My Grandmother resides in Palm Beach County, Florida, and has for several decades now. I never remembered her as being particularly concerned with things political, until the election of 2000. Since then, she has developed a vocal favor for the Democratic Party, though this has caused her a, perhaps, unfair share of headaches with her fellow south Florida retirees.

I asked her to write her thoughts about what this election means to her.

She is a supporter of Barack Obama.

The following are her words, dispatched to me in what was coincidentally her very first e-mail. Nothing has been edited except for any basic punctuation and spelling errors.

----

Here I am, 83 years old and faced again with the frustration of another national election. I find myself surrounded by Republicans who don"t want to hear my thoughts on politics. But I keep trying.
I too was a Republican my entire adult life, raised in a Republican family - lived in a Republican suburb of New York City... and went along with all that,

Then my husband, (an Independent who leaned toward the Democrats) retired! We moved to Florida and found a wonderful group of friends there. And they too were all Republicans. When I became a widow, I began to pay more attention to what each party stood for, but stayed with the Republicans -- until George Bush came over the horizon. I began to see that this man didn't seem to have the depth of knowledge - the worldliness, the stature that our President should have.

So during my once or twice weekly dinners with all the other widows, I tried to tell them how wrong I thought they were. Never a good idea. One woman made a special trip to my home to say that I was a Republican, and should VOTE Republican.

When I expressed great concern over the Iraq war, they all chimed in -- "we were attacked!" But we're fighting the wrong country, I cried. I was met with rather inane responses, so would give up until the next time. I quietly changed my registration to Democrat. Now when I was introduced to someone new, it was - 'she's a Democrat! " This caused people to study my face for a moment, then change the subject.

Then came 2004. After four years of trying very hard to keep quiet, I began political discussions again...but to no avail. I asked how any thinking person could vote for Bush after what I considered the disaster of the past four years. Much to my horror, George was re-elected. However, newspapers in our town ran stories about psychologists who were suddenly besieged by people so depressed over the outcome of the election that they were desperately seeking help so they could carry on. Where were they in the past few years? These were new friends I could have talked to for hours.

After Bush was three years into his second term, a good friend who had once been a successful stock broker, told me quietly at dinner-- "you were so right about Bush, and I voted for him twice!"

Some months after that she died.

signed, Audrey P. Larson