It isn’t very hard to find out that I adore Hillary Clinton, especially given that my phone lock screen is a picture of her from the night she accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination for President.
Naturally, I would do anything I could to see my role model in person, which is why I asked my mom for tickets to see HRC speak on her book tour as my birthday gift.
I am very thankful that I got this opportunity, so, as generic as it sounds to say, I’d like to thank my mom for always providing for me. Thanks, mom!
The drive from Lexington to Atlanta is almost six hours, so I would have been miserable had my friend Christina not have joined me for the trip. We planned to leave for Atlanta at 10:00 AM, but, per my typical behavior, we left about thirty minutes later than planned. We stopped in Knoxville to eat Cracker Barrel (a favorite of mine), then continued on our alternative music-filled drive. When we got to Atlanta, we had 2 hours to spare, so we went to Sweet Hut Bakery and Cafe to pass the time.
In reference to one of Clinton’s leaked emails to Huma Abedin “Should we be bad? Should we get a crème Brulee? Let’s split a crème Brulee,” I decided to get a mini crème Brulee. On a side note, if you are ever in Atlanta and looking for a good place to buy a treat, Sweet Hut is a great place to go.
After leaving the Cafe, Christina and I began our trek to the Fox Theatre to get into line about 30 minutes before the doors even opened. The line grew incredibly long, so it was a very good thing we got there very early.
While waiting for the doors to open, there were people from Georgia looking for signatures for a petition to move to paper ballots, to investigate the newfound breach in voter data, among other things; when asked if I would sign, I explained that we are from Kentucky so we could not sign.
The wonderful ladies in front of us turned around when she heard this, and we started having a great conversation about Hillary, the most recent election, the 2016 election, and other political topics. When we got inside to sit down, I had a few more of these conversations with strangers. It was very refreshing to know that so many people other than me share great admiration for her.
The audience, which was fully packed, silenced for a few minutes in ambition of Secretary Clinton walking out. I was sitting on the side of the theatre with the view of the wing where she would walk out from, so as soon as we saw a pantsuit emerging from the wing, the crowd stood up and clapped/screamed enthusiastically for Hillary Clinton.
The applause lasted for minutes, and Hillary’s face lit up from the praise. Then she took her seat and began speaking. Throughout the night, she talked about the election, her book, getting women into politics, how young people can get involved, and she answered questions from the audience.
My favorite response, however, was when she talked about the importance of educating children. Her career has revolved around providing the best circumstances for all children, so hearing her talk about her passion was beyond inspiring.
I still haven’t gotten over my sense of being star struck, and I’m not sure I ever will. If given the opportunity, I would likely become a Hillary Rodham Clinton groupie. Seeing her in person is something that I could never forget, and it has left me with motivation to succeed in whatever I do no matter the circumstance.
Beyond that, though, she has left me with an even bigger wish of seeing a woman shatter that hardest and highest glass ceiling – something she left 66 million cracks in.
