Caroline and I are precious.
Anyway.
It's been weird.
It's been weird.
No, I'm not giddy at the prospect of the loss of homes, property, and lives—that aspect is terrifying—but there is something so intangible and romantic about winds and rain blowing against cozy houses.
I worked right here at my desk, in my little house, and listened to gusts of wind rush against my windows. Late at night, when the rain calmed down, we pulled on wellies and walked to our corner bar.
There was a dog, so our night was completely made.
Something about the fact that we were all there as neighbors, a little scared, happy to have the lights on, worried about people up further North, made us all friends.
And I think the storm was the perfect segue into the week before the election.
And I think the storm was the perfect segue into the week before the election.
Every election year at about this time—six days away or so—I get completely fatigued. My system is overloaded with polls and figures, conflicting ideas, predictions, and opinion pieces.
Friends from Real America are calling and texting, asking me to help them see through the fray as if people who live in DC are privy to special sets of information the rest of the country is not.
I can be smarmy, but I tell them all, with total sincerity, that no one knows what's going to happen and anyone who says otherwise is a moron.
I'm not emotional. The crying in bathroom stalls usually happens about a month out—I'm well past that stage—now I'm just zen. This is when I get into a weird calm zone in which nothing affects me, nothing makes me lose my temper or roll my eyes, I just accept everything as it comes and move along.
I won't attend briefings or happy hours. I won't play with any more interactive electoral college maps. I will delete emails from listservs without opening them or replying.
And this is where it all becomes complete. I lay bare my vulnerabilities and flaws and say, you know what? I've grown so much in the past few years.
If I could reach through this screen and tell 2008 Lyndsey anything about campaigns and elections, I don't even know where I would start.
Everything that I've learned has come at just the right time and with just the right purpose.
And people who work here should never complain. It baffles me when people complain. The late hours, the missed events, the friends and family who never really get it... none of that matters.
We are the luckiest.
