mixed-up monday: when i was first lady
There are some feelings that can’t be replicated, and the Election Eve emotional elixir of hopefulness/ anxiety/ excitement is surely one of them. It’s been a few years since my husband ran for public office and the culmination of campaigning for weeks loomed large in my life, but I’ll never forget that day-before-the-vote bubble of nausea — adrenalin, exhaustion and faith.
For a few intense years, my husband Josh was Southold Town Supervisor {a.k.a. the head of the oldest town in New York State}, and I was often referred to as the “First Lady of Southold.” {Go ahead, chuckle . . . I did the first two dozen times it happened.}
At the end of the day, the moniker meant that I was lucky enough to witness first-hand what it means to serve in public office. I experienced a taste of how living in the public eye is more than shrugging off the photo taken just a few minutes after the birth of my son showing up in the paper or balancing family life and my career with a slew of events, meetings and miscellaneous obligations.
Being First Lady was a gift — an opportunity to meet and interact with people in ways that made a difference, and that opportunity grew from a seemingly simple seed that my husband planted and tended to again and again — the ask. He knew that when you really wanted someone’s support, you had to ask for it — with sincerity, humility and confidence.
I remember knocking on doors with him until after dark on Election Day Eve, a final burst of connecting with people who would {hopefully} be pulling levers the next day. Even when I was greeted with warmth and smiles, I remembered Josh saying, “You have to ask for their vote,” and would do that before heading back onto the sidewalk.
So, it’s Election Eve and even though I haven’t been knocking on doors in the dark, I do have an important ask . . . and this one’s for you: Would you please vote tomorrow? Thank you.
To tune into an Election Day playlist featuring THE REPLACEMENTS, LYLE LOVETT, ARCADIA, THE NATIONAL and more, click on the image below.
Want to read about the sheer power of asking? Check this out:
