I thought this week I would be writing an article about how great it is now that we have a women President, but Tuesday, as the electoral college filled with red, I became very scared. I came home, I started to cry, I went through all the stages of grief.

Denied that this was happening to me.

Angry at the state of Pennsylvania (I feel this was actually my late Grandma being channeled through me as she was from Pennsylvania and always encouraged my love of Hillary).

Bargaining: maybe if I had campaigned and was the starving underpaid intern for the campaign then Hillary would have won.

Depression: I felt like most of the people around me that the world was caving in and a dark shadow was hanging over me.

Acceptance: I took a deep breath, remembered what my brother had said, 'that we are still a democracy and our founding fathers made it so one person would never have too much power', and that I was still alive and was in a position to fight.

Last week I wrote about how we must always have hope in American and the darkest day is behind us and I truly believe this. Weirdly, the thing I feel after the grief and betrayal is hope and gratitude. This may be the way I cope and so be it. I know many have protested and that's fine, I just ask all the protesters out there to be smart. I've been on the other side of protests and please don't anger more people in the process. This doesn't help you, it makes our fight so much harder. I believe in free speech but please don't burn the flag or fly it with the star field down, this is not worth it. It only furthers Trump's beliefs that liberals are not "True Americans". I don't want to hear that they would be doing the same thing if Hillary would have won. Remember when they go low, we go high.

So with the way I feel and have felt since Tuesday night, I feel I should be thanking Mrs. Clinton. She may have lost but she's gonna win someday, even if it's not her hand on the bible some cold January morning...so here it goes.

Dear Hilary,

First, let me start by saying thank you. Thank you for being that inspiration you so desperately want to be. You have fought so hard and it shows. You may not have won the election but through your years of glass cracking, you have shed light into the darkness for others to see that they too can change the world. There are so many women and young girls like me that you have inspired both liberals and conservatives. I remember going to Girls State when I was in high school and meeting so many that felt the same way. One of our speakers, who's a lifelong Republican, was inspired by you to work in government. Because of you, I made many friends and still do because we are and always will be with you. People give Bernie all the credit for starting a movement, but you were slowly building one for years and your legacy will continue long after your fight ends.

When I was a senior in high school I fulfilled a dream of mine and was a page for the Idaho Senate. I walked into the Idaho Statehouse on a rainy February morning assuming I would be one of a few girls of ten pages. But, as the others soon arrived and the room filled with ten young high school seniors, not one of them was a male. We were all shocked and I couldn't help but smile because I know there were many times you were the only women in the room. I know the Idaho Senate Page Program is a very small thing, but it was very big that day because it meant we had broken some glass. There were some that thought we would fight and that ten girls couldn't all work together. But on day one we put politics aside and worked very hard together proving women were capable of being level headed and getting the job done.

I joke and say I was born to vote for you because my whole life I knew you were a fighter. I first learned of your work when I was about ten and had to go to the doctor because I had a bad case of pneumonia. I have always been lucky and have been covered by insurance, but there was a woman there that had a sick child and was turned away because she didn't have insurance. When we went back to the doctor, my mother told me how when you were the First Lady you tried to create universal health care and how people had told you to go back to the kitchen and bake cookies. I was appalled by such a statement. But you kept fighting for the right to health care. I think that was the moment I truly fell in love with you. After that, I watched you run for president in 2008 and shared some great moments with the many women in my life seeing you run your heart out for President.

I was finally able to vote for you twice this year. Once in the primary and then on Tuesday. I voted for you in the primary for my aunt who saved a Newsweek from January 1996 (the month and year I was born) with you as the cover girl with a purple sticky note saying "Hilary a role model for the 21st century". I never met my aunt as she passed when I was two, but somehow she knew that you would go on to keep fighting into the 21st century and be just that. I voted again on Tuesday for my grandma who was always a huge supporter of my love for you in 2008 and who sadly had passed a year ago to dementia. So your support of dementia research was very personal to me because my grandma was a big influence on my political shaping and it meant that much more that you wanted to champion that research.

On election day, after dropping my ballot off, I helped with exit polling in my area, but ended up helping people with voting. Two people impacted me. One man I helped was an ex-felon who was voting for the first time, another a 95-year-old World War II vet who when looking at the line questioned if it was worth it. Ultimately, I helped him to the front and voted. For the first time, I felt what is was like to help make a small difference and it was electrifying. I see now why public service it so great.

Sadly that night I saw you lose this very personal election to me. But, after crying for a few minutes, I looked forward to what was to come. That night I saw my fight begin. I didn't do all I could to make sure you won. I did very little because I live in a safe world. The world you, Bill and President Obama have created for me these last 20 years made me take for granted that a woman would become President. While many cried and filled with fear I went to gratitude and hope. Because I still believe that love trumps hate and we are stronger together. I see now the fight for women's rights and all I hold dear will be very hard, but it will come and all will be alright. I didn't watch your concession speech because I don't believe this is the end. Maybe someday I will, but today is not the day. I did see the clip of you calling on all us young public servants and you're right, this does hurt but so do shards of broken glass. I know you'll keep fighting but when your day comes and you can't get up again, know that millions of women will pick up that hammer and continue to break the glass, because, after all, it's glass, not poly carbonate plastic. I look forward to the day I can personally hug you and show you in person what your work and run for President means to me, but for now, this letter will have to do. Thank you for being my role model for the 21st century.

Sincerely,

Aleigh A.

(A fellow dog owner, pantsuit aficionado, nasy woman, fighter, and glass ceiling cracker )

If you would like to send Hillary a Thank You letter send them to

Hillary Rodham Clinton Post Office Box 5256 New York, NY 10185-5256