Taking a Breath...Past the Lump in My Throat

After two and a half weeks of presidential campaign coverage getting more and more intense I thought this story was a breath of fresh air. Naturally, it comes from a personal blog, not the legacy media and not from the political blogosphere.

tracey of the blog "beyond the pale" describes her cousin's trip to see McCain and Palin with her four year-old Down Syndrome daughter, "A".

The rally was extremely crowded, long lines, etc., so my cousin put A up on her shoulders to see the goings on. At one point, they were approached by a McCain/Palin aide who asked if they’d like to meet Sarah Palin. Uhm, yes, please, they said, and were led behind a black stage curtain to wait. ... As the rally was breaking up, John McCain made his way to their area. My cousin said he approached, greeted them, patted A’s head, but then, with the crush of people, was quickly swept away. Cousin was hoping to get a picture with him, but there he went, so they just focused on waiting for Sarah. Moments later, though, McCain made his way back through that sea of people to my cousin, my aunt, and little A. Here’s what my cousin said about that:

I have to say that my Mom and I were both impressed with him so much. You would have to experience it. I don’t know that I can put words to it, but he was so kind, humble, gentle, and compassionate. When he spoke to us he looked right in our eyes. He thanked us with such gratitude and told us that Sarah really wanted to see us. He posed for a picture and then he was gone.

Finally, Sarah approached. More from my cousin:

I can’t give you the conversation by word, but she said, “Awwww” and kind of melted when she saw A. She asked her name and age. Then she hugged her. She actually got watery eyes. Remember, even though she is Governor, VP candidate, she is still new to the world of DS. She said she was so glad we brought A to see her. She just kept smiling and looking at A. I told her we brought a gift for Trig and gave her the t-shirt. (ed. Cousin ordered a t-shirt for Trig that said “fearfully and wonderfully made.” I thought that was sweet.) I told her that I have such admiration for her because when A was Trig’s age, I was still crying ... Oh yeah, I just remembered - A blew kisses to both John McCain and to Sarah during our little visits.

Click over for the whole thing, plus pictures of A with Palin and McCain.

Hat tip to the Anchoress.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 07:47 PM

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