On the day after the election, there was a shift. You all know what I mean. It was palatable. I went to a church activity that night and while I was making my famous pumpkin curry cream soup, I found myself holding confessional in the kitchen. Mormon-style. You see, my husband is a Bishop of the best LDS congregation (ward) in the world. The fact that I'm a Bishop's wife means nothing except that I get to hear the women's voices, their thoughts, their opinions on certain matters in our ward. It's no secret that in general, women have a way of knowing. And because we know what we know, we then know who to trust, who to lobby, who to confide in about any myriad of issues pertaining to our families, our communities, ourselves. And here's the real secret: Although total men of sound judgment and integrity, when we've got something to say, it's not always the Bishop we seek out first in a church setting. It's each other. And in this case, it was his wife.
So as I was stirring the cream into the curry into the pumpkin (try that recipe, Ian Lind), one after the other, I found myself hearing the same confession over and over and over again. And I never got tired of it. In fact, each time I heard it, I wanted to stop the centerpiece making class, jump on the scrap booking table, and fist bump every woman in attendance that night. The confession?
"I voted for Barack Obama."
I am a devout Democrat. I'm an even more devout Mormon. These two identities don't always gel in some people's mind, and yes at times it's been a difficult process to combine the two in my own mind. But Barack Obama changed people. He made it possible for us to openly practice what Maxine Hong Kingston wrote, "make our minds large even as the universe is large, so that there is room for paradoxes." The Democratic Party has done this for me and BHO did this for many like me . . . and many unlike me.
That night, with a contagious audacity I had never felt before, I went home and constructed a letter to my Congresswoman, Mazie Hirono. I wrote it right on her website so I didn't keep a copy of it. But I told her a little bit about myself. I told her that I was LDS, that I live in Laie, that among a primarily Republican population, I was the VP of my precinct, Secretary of my district, and Secretary of my Region for the Democratic Party of Hawaii. I told her that in the larger scheme of the political world, I really had no position of influence or social status. I told her of my love for this country, my desire for change, and my willingness to help make that change possible within myself, my family, and my community. Then I ended the letter by "pulling an Obama" . . . I asked for the unaskable.
Wednesday, December 17th at 8:38 a.m., I woke up to this email:
Aloha,
Thank you for contacting my office requesting tickets to the Presidential Inauguration on January 20th, 2009. I am pleased to be able to offer you 1 ticket. Please confirm by Monday, Dec. 29, 2008, that you still want the ticket. Email your confirmation to one of the addresses below. If we do not hear from you by Monday, Dec. 29, the tickets will be given to other people on the waiting list. As you may know, the requests for tickets have been overwhelming, and I want to offer the opportunity to attend the ceremony to as many people from Hawaii as possible. Please let us know at your earliest convenience and no later than Dec. 29, 2008, whether you will use the tickets or not. If you confirm that you want the tickets, a more detailed email will be sent to you in early January with information on how and when to pick up the tickets. We look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
M
Mazie K. Hirono MEMBER OF CONGRESS
So I'm off to be a part of history. Aside from the response I wrote to her, there is no possible way I can think of to show her just how grateful I am this amazing opportunity. I doubt she'll ever read this post, but just in case she does:
Mazie,
From one woman to another, thank you for knowing.
