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First
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Republican National Convention
Living the Dream… Final Notes
By Lyn Bliss
What to say about the past week spent in Tampa at the GOP National
Convention? Bob said he’d like a “wrap-up” – and I am trying to come up
with something that would provide that.
When I think of the week and work on explaining it, I come up with
words like inspiring, informational, educational, enjoyable,
outstanding, and other descriptive terms along those lines.
But, I think the two things I heard that have stayed in my mind the
most – and probably show an insight into the man who is known as Mitt
Romney were two stories that his oldest son Taggart (Tagg) told at the
Ohio GOP breakfast sponsored by Dave Yost.
One was about an experience he had while fishing – a favorite pastime –
and the outcome. He told it in a most entertaining way, but the gist of
it is: As a child, Tagg was out fishing, forgot to tie the anchor line
to the boat. Didn’t realize it until he found himself drifting way out.
He rowed himself back in and told his Dad what had happened. Mitt
immediately got back in the rowboat with him. Tagg said his Dad had him
pick two points between which the anchor had been dropped and then
proceeded to teach Tagg the basics of a grid search. Then, they
proceeded to search until the floating rope had been found, and the
anchor pulled up. Tagg said his Dad hates waste.
The other story Tagg told was about his Father deciding to run for
President. Before the first time he ran, Mitt called the whole family
together and they sat down and discussed pros and cons – and then
voted. It was a unanimous decision for Mitt to run.
The second time the decision was to be made, the family did the same
thing (with more grandchildren). Tagg said the discussion was long and
the vote was three for and the remainder against. One of the
“for” votes had been his Mom, Ann Romney. Tagg said that Ann looked
around the group and then said to Mitt, “Mitt, can you fix what is
wrong with the United States right now?”
Tagg said that his Father thought quite a while before he answered
that, yes, he thought that he really could. At that answer, Ann told
Mitt that he had no choice – it was his responsibility as an American
to run.
There were lots more stories about Mitt, the man. Stories from friends,
acquaintances, fellow church members and even those who really didn’t
know Mitt when he did things that changed their lives. However, those
two stories told by Tagg seem to keep coming back to my mind. They are
two of the first things I told my husband. I just wish that everyone
could hear them first hand from Tagg, because my telling is not doing
them justice!
These conventions are a time for all of those attending to get to know
their candidates, hear their life experiences, their ideas, their goals
and vision for the future. It gives us all information to bring home to
our friends and neighbors. There are now thousands of citizens
who know more about their candidates than they could ever have learned
by reading about them. We have not only heard and seen them, we have
also heard and seen those who have dealt with the candidate through
life experiences.
Another statement that really struck a chord with me was when Marco
Rubio said that this country belongs to us, it does not belong to the
government. All I could think, and wanted to say, was, “Yes, Mr. Rubio
you are right! It does belong to us; and, we built it!”
The week was a whirlwind of activities, dining, being entertained and
political rhetoric at its best! For even half a political junkie it
would have been enjoyable……..for a true political junkie, it was heaven!
Last summer sometime (around the 4th of July) I went to our local Ace
Hardware to get some small item (don’t even remember what it was) but
they had red/white/blue flashing star necklaces. I bought one for Jean
and me. A while later, I was back up there for something else and saw
some glasses that were red/white/blue star shaped with flashing lights,
so I bought two pairs of those, too. Jean and I wore them
Wednesday and Thursday nights to the sessions. Thursday night, the
reporters seemed to be drawn to them like bees to honey (think it might
have been because I was seated in the area next to where Mitt would be
entering and they were positioning themselves in preparation for that.
Anyway, Friday morning there I was in the Washington Post. There are
several different shots of my flashing glasses and they have been used
by various papers around Ohio and the rest of the country, along with
USA Today. Would never have thought I’d get recognized for something
like that!! Below is the link for one of the places it appeared:
One last note: Remember my talking about getting a manicure and
pedicure?? My nails and toenails looked so nice. Then on Wednesday I
wore a new black and white dress… and the black dye decided it would
rather be part of the clear polish on my fingernails than on the dress.
I had grey nails and no polish remover! You can guess what one of the
first things that I did was when I got home!!
Anyway, the drive home from Columbus airport was made without incident
(I had to be wary that I might fall asleep), the bags are unpacked, the
laundry is started and the memories are churning around in my head to
be called up at will for pleasant thoughts! However, I am still having
a hard time believing that I had the experience!
It has been fun sharing my experiences with all of you – thank you, and
I hope you also enjoyed them. If nothing else, I have a nice diary of
the event!!
Link... click here
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Governor
Kasich giving the delegate vote from Ohio
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