Caucusing

Violet and Stella had a very political weekend. Saturday we went to see Hillary Clinton speak in Lewiston. We tried to explain to Violet who we were going to see, but I think it was lost on her. She insisted there should be a parade on the way there, so we had a very small parade. Violet was wearing the rainbow beads she got at a pride parade, which I think added to her confusion. She also thought there was going to be a bouncy house, which was (gulp) my fault.

Here comes the parade

There goes the parade

We hiked to the armory and waited in line for 45 minutes before they told us that Jason wasn't allowed to bring his Leatherman in. They did kindly don thick blue nitrile gloves and offer to dispose of it, and absolutely forbade Jason to hide it outside in the 2 feet of snow, because some would-be assassin might have forgotten his or her weapon at home and find it and try to sneak it in. So there was a bit more waiting while Jason went a block away, shoved his Leatherman down in the snow and finagled his way back through security. Inside the armory, Violet immediately donned stickers and found all the really funnest stuff.


Seriously? It was insanely boring for her. After all that walking and waiting, Hillary was fashionably late and so we waited some more. When she finally did appear? The microphones went on the blink. But in the end - there she was. And me? I only listened with half an ear, because I was fascinated with her Secret Service agents. The one closest to me had for-real-and-true 'darting black eyes'. Like he had just stepped out of a Nancy Drew mystery.


Sunday we went to the caucus in town which just about pushed Violet over the edge. At one point I told her she could count the people and she got herself lost in her enthusiasm. Not very lost, but lost enough to get scared. When I found her, I said quite sternly "You scared the living daylights out of your Mama." and she cried. Later, Jason asked her what her favorite part of the caucus was. She replied "The counting. But I didn't like the yelling." Bad, bad Mama.

This morning on the way to school, I asked Violet if she knew who Hillary Clinton was. Her answer? Yes. She is the lady that broke the microphone.