MOMocrats

Tomorrow We Can Breathe

One more day.

Just one more day.

The Pennsylvania Democratic Primary will be over tomorrow and maybe then, to quote Gerald Ford's speech writer who passed away this weekend, "Our long national nightmare will be over."

Wishful thinking you say?  Maybe.  But I'm sensing that even though there are many who believe this will play out until the convention in Denver, my gut says something is going to happen in Pennsylvania that will change all that. 

Maybe we're all just too tired to keep listening.  Maybe each candidates' supporters are beating each other down and we're just too weary to continue.  But I'm sensing there will soon be a shift in this campaign.

While some have not believed me when I've written that my farming parents in Pennsylvania still are on the fence about who to vote for, I spoke with them this weekend and they are still undecided about whether they're going for Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama.  But they'll have to choose tomorrow.

I realized after a quick yoga class this morning, though, that no matter what happens tomorrow, we can all get through it if we just breathe.

GrandMOMocrat of the Year: Marian Robinson

Ok, I just have to stop and appreciate this woman for a minute. Ms. Marian Robinson is Michelle Obama's mother and mother-in-law to Senator Barack Obama. She's the one who gets the two Obama daughters off to school and picks them up and tucks them in at night when both Michelle and Barack are on the road campaigning. She, along with Mr. Robinson (now deceased), managed to raise two children who attended Princeton even though the Robinsons themselves never graduated from college.

I sometimes forget that like me, the Obamas have young children: theirs are a six year old and a nine year old. Major difference being, I can sit at home writing a thousand and one grant proposals for my work, and Senator Obama (with Mrs. Obama's help)? Oh, just out doing a little thing called RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT OF THE FREE WORLD.

I don't think you have to run for public office to get the difficulty of balancing work and life. As any parent knows, it's ALL ABOUT THE CHILDCARE. Aren't we MOMocrats figuring out what's for dinner at the same time as there's a work deadline of some kind, and then also trying to decide what should go into the birthday goodie bags and wondering how to get that last remaining item so the kid can complete his or her homework? (And then blogging about it somehow?)

Anyway, we all know how crucial it is to have a safety net--neighbors, relatives, friends, grandmas and grandpas--because inevitably one of the balls we juggle will fall. And I think it's remarkable how, since time began, some people are blessed to have a steel-spined grandma as the hub of their wheel. One who somehow raised up her own kids with a lot of starch, but seems to have softened with her grandkids.

The 8:30 bedtime? "That's ridiculous!" Robinson said. The TV-for-an-hour rule? "That's just not enough time," she said.
...
"I've heard [Michelle] say, 'Mom, what are you rolling your eyes at? You made us do the same thing,"' Robinson said. "I don't remember being that bad. It seems like she's just going overboard."

So here's to grandmas who help make things happen. What they have to offer is priceless in both senses of the word: lacking a measure of value in the public workplace that would do it justice; and something beyond measure: the wisdom, security, and love they provide that has no simple cash equivalent.

Cynematic's personal blog is P i l l o w b o o k. She's grateful for her mother and her mother-in-law, who take fabulous care of her son.

The Story I Didn't Tell You

On Super Tuesday, February 5th 2008, I drove to Central Los Angeles (with pneumonia) and interviewed Congresswoman Maxine Waters for BlogHer.com.

During the course of the interview we discussed  why she was supporting Senator Hillary Clinton and I shared with her the story of my very stubborn grandfather who, no joke here, thought I would grow up and be a 'fine secretary' one day.

I thought it was an important point to make; a 90-year old man with some very 'traditional' ideas was going to vote for a woman. I'd like to think it meant progress.

What I didn't tell the viewer, or the Congresswoman, was that in the same breathe my grandfather championed Hillary, he called Senator Obama (and I'm paraphrasing) slimy like that Jesse Jackson and a typical black politician. Mind you all of this information came to me through my Dad, who I am guessing censored.