22 July 2004, 12:59 peeyem
It was every bit as exciting as I knew it would be. It was amazing to be surrounded by my people, and by "my people," I don't mean just people who vote like Democrats or think like moderates just a hair to the left of center, I mean people who take an active interest in history and politics and who go to the polls every time they're open.
We
got up at 3:45 to get to Peachtree Battle to get in line to get a time
to come back to get our books signed, and then headed back to my house
for showers and naps.
We got back to Peachtree Battle at 11:30 and found a parking spot and
then went and stood in the line and waited, lots and lots of people.
Bill Clinton has a reputation for being late and yesterday he was late.
But the people in line were so nice that the time passed quickly.
There were police all over the place, locking down part of the parking
lot, and K9 units with sniffy dogs. There were perhaps two dozen Chapter
11 employees there trying to herd us all, but everyone kept their cool.
Then the Secret Service agents showed up with their wires in their ears,
talking into their cuffs, standing out like something brown and smelly
in the punchbowl. Why they think they're such a secret is a secret to
me.
The TV stations were there, and so were some of the JC photographers.
There was a lady in line behind us who had driven in from South Carolina
last night to get a copy signed for her husband's 65th birthday surprise.
She had bought it on ebay and had it shipped to her daughter's house here.
There was a 63-year-old woman behind us who had just gotten back from
Greece and had climbed up and down all the ruins, despite her replaced
hip. She sent pictures of herself in unlikely places as postcards to her
orthopaedist. She had lived in DC for 30 years with her husband and had
been in and out of the White House all the time because she was a volunteer
for various organizations.
A gentleman standing near us seemed a little shellshocked by the crowd
and we couldn't tell if he was a Democrat or perhaps a swing voter. He
looked like he'd never seen so many people going to get Cokes for strangers
and holding places in line and holding pocketbooks and books while others
went off in search of a bathroom.
There was another lady there who I talked to about the value of networking
when it's done right and purely, and who is retired from government work
but now works with seniors. She has stood in line for many, many book
signings.
A number of people had their kids there and were actively telling them
about how it's possible to become the president even if you're not wealthy
and not groomed for it and not from a prominent family, and how easy it
is to fall to temptation, so it's important to Pay Attention and Be Careful.
When we finally got up to the door, I had to turn over the bag I'd been
toting my stuff in and was given a clothes pin in exchange. The bag I
was using is one my mother made for me for 4H camp in fifth grade. It's
navy twill and has my name on it in my mother's cursive in red paint pen:
Susan Scarbrough. I handed it over and the Secret Service passed it along
down the line and we went on in the store.
Once in, we were frisked and asked to identify any lumps or odd shaped
things in our clothes. I had a lipstick and a credit card to declare,
but the wand kept going off near my right breast. I knew that thing they
left in there from my biopsy would eventually set something off and now
it has. To the woman's credit, however, once I told her what it was, she
waved me on through without further question.
Once we got near the end of the line, I saw Maynard Jackson's widow, Miss
Valerie, sitting on a chair, with her customary big hat. I made an ass
of myself over her. I shrieked and did that special wave you reserve for
the men in your life, that one where you flap your hand up and down. And
I grinned like a jackass eating briars, so she could see all the way to
my back teeth. She got up from her chair and came over and I opened my
mouth and couldn't stop talking. I told her that Maynard had been Hizzoner
when I moved here and worked downtown and I had always seen him roaming
around and he always said hey and I always knew that nothing bad could
happen on Maynard's watch, and that I had just cried and cried when he
died, and then I'd watched the funeral and I thought she'd done such a
beautiful job and comported herself so well, and I'd wanted to send a
note but I couldn't figure out where to send it, but I sure was sorry
for her loss, and then she was talking and I was talking and she was asking
my name (so she could report me to the police) and hugging me and the
Secret Service was telling me COME ON and the store employees were getting
nervous and then gently pushing me up to Big Bill Clinton.
And I looked right up at him in his blue shirt and he grinned at me and
I grinned at him and he shook my hand and I said, "Well. Ken Starr
can kiss my butt, too." And he said "That's a good
girl right there," and he signed my book and grinned at me and I
said, "And you're awfully cute, too." And he looked a little
taken aback and said thank you and the Secret Service moved me along.
When we got outside, I walked over to the bag table and was about to hand
over my clothespin when the lady asked, "Are you Susan?" I said
yes and she said, "We love your bag." I told her it was my camp
bag from decades ago, and that I'd used it practically my whole life.
She smiled and said, "Welll, I want one like it, with my name and
everything."
That's what I did on my day off. It was one of the best days of my life.
20 July 2004, 4:14 peeyem
Primary day! Did you vote? Are you going to vote? Don't you want your sticker?
I'm going to get my book signed by Big Bill Clinton tomorrow. If I don't come back, don't come looking for me.
19 July 2004, 4:35 peeyem
Marcy is conscious and alert and talking and on the road to recovery. We are all pleased.
In other exciting news, I now have sconces in the living room. Now I can stop worry about lamps. Now for a dishwasher!
And the icemaker is hooked up! I've never had an icemaker. Now all of my ice is uniformly sized and shaped. Weird.
The iron man came and my special order burglar bars are in the works. And the house finally has a security system.
Speaking of the house, it's amazingly quiet in there since the new windows are in. I can't believe what a huge difference that makes.
14 July 2004, 2:11 peeyem
If
you only remember one date in history, let it be this: July 14, 1789!
The fall of the French Bastille!
The
inimitable and irrepressible David Franklin
Bastille Day in 2004 is an especially good time to ponder your freedom and whence it comes and how it goes. I'm just saying.
If you're old enough to vote and you're not registered to do so, time is running out. This year's election will be one of the most important in our country's history.
12 July 2004, 4:23 peeyem
Marcy didn't have surgery on Friday. Too much fluid in her lungs. Maybe Wednesday.
There should be an invoice for the windows waiting for me when I get home. The moderately ugly burglar bar doesn't fit. More lumber for the moment, this time on the outside. Which reminds me I need to call the blacksmith person and see if I can't goose him into giving me a price.
Meanwhile, Henry and the chirren have been to New York. I'd almost have paid cash money to have been along for that. I hope they saw a bunch of things and took pictures of all of it.
9 July 2004, 10:49 ayem
Marcy has a lot of broken bones, but she's going to be okay. She had surgery on Wednesday on her legs and arm, and she's in surgery now for her heel and her pelvis. I imagine her recovery will be painful and frustrating, but at the end of it all, she will be able to run and jump and play again, and for that we are all very thankful.
In other news, the windows should be finished today, and I bought a moderately ugly burglar bar to go over the vulnerable window, until I can have some forged special. The one that's going up is not so institutional looking as to suggest that I would be affixed to it by my straitjacket, but it's definitely not ART.
I read in the online Dublin Courier Herald that Ellis Nelson was killed in a wreck on Wednesday night. Ellis and I went to different high schools together and never met until we both went off to Young Harris. I still see the fact that two of us from Dublin ended up at Young Harris the same year as a bending of the odds, because I sure had never even heard of it until I got the recruitment letter. Anyway. Sad, very sad about Ellis.
6 July 2004, 11:21 ayem
My very sweet sister-in-law, Marcy, was in a terrible car accident yesterday. She's in the hospital now with a number of broken bones. There's no head injury and no paralysis, but she'll take a long time to heal. Please to be thinking the happy thoughts for her and for my brother, Charlie, and for those who love them both.
2 July 2004, 10:40 ayem
Today I got the following from my friend Tamara, who lives in Oregon. I'm not going to forward it, but I am going to post it here, and maybe you'll do it or forward it along. Maybe this is something you agree with and you've been frustrated by the lack of action you can take and this will relieve that. Maybe you think it's a bunch of horsepucky and this will make you peevish. Either way, it's out there and it's food for thought.
My name is Nadia Jensen and I have an idea for a quiet revolution.
Please take 5 minutes to read my email and then help me if you can: Here's some history behind this idea: When Norway was occupied by Germany in 1940, Norwegian women began to knit RED caps for children as a way of letting everyone know that they did not like what was happening in their country, that they didn't like having their freedom taken away by the Nazis. (read full text here)
In other news, I have as many new windows as the weather has permitted to be installed. In the event that you're not in the Atlanta area, I will apprise you of the weather situation. This spring and summer is shaping up just like the first summer I was here, which is to say that I think my gills are about to open up again. If it's not raining, it's fixing to or it just has. I can actually smell the damp in the air conditioning vents.
For food reviews, I turn my attention to the rolled sandwich, which I have recently heard referred to as Southern Sushi. Whatever you call it, I have developed a not-so-small obsession with things rolled up in tortillas. My friend Carol is the undisputed Queen of The Rolly Sammich. I don't know what she does to them, but hers are just better than yours. They're just better than anyone's. I called her the other night in a swivet because I felt that I should be able to translate the rolly sammich back to another plate, but mine just go to Hell. But I listened very carefully and last night I made one for my lunch today, exactly as she told me, with the cream cheese glue and everything. Mine has turkey and spinach and apples in it. I will report later how well that turned out.
Sunday is Independence Day. You can go here and read about the Declaration of Independence and other reasons we celebrate this important day with fireworks and parade and other observations.
Finally, I have updated my links page. I'll be updating other parts of this site soon, so pay attention.
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2004
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