Feeling Lost without Hillary? Kids Share Your Pain!

One evening this past summer, someone gave the neighbor kids some chalk, and they decorated the top of my retaining wall, my whole sidewalk, and the mouth of my driveway with pastel flowers and pretty pictures. It washed away with the next rain, but it was sweet.
Kids did something similar in front of Hillary's Brooklyn HQ.  Very sweet.

PARENTS

Kids Write Messages Of Love Outside Hillary Clinton’s Headquarters

“This is the America I fight for. It’s the America I love.”

11/11/2016 12:54 am ET

Carla Herreria Senior Writer, HuffPost Hawaii

As supporters of Hillary Clinton, still reeling from her failed presidential bid, walked past the Democrat’s former Brooklyn, New York, headquarters Thursday night, they came across a heartwarming and heartbreaking scene.
Kids sitting on the sidewalk were writing messages of love and thanks to the Democratic nominee.
On the concrete, a rainbow of chalky words spelled “Thank you!” and “Hillary is loved” and “Keep up the good work!”

Read more and see more pics here >>>>

Do you have a message for Hillary?  GO HERE and ADD YOUR THANKS IN THE COMMENT THREAD! >>>>

AfterMath and an Open Thank You Letter to Hillary Clinton: Write Your Own Thank You Thoughts HERE!

It takes time to process what happened.  It was a loss, and so it is not unusual for our community to be experiencing stages of grief.

In her concession speech, Hillary told us,

"This is painful, and it will be for a long time. But I want you to remember this: Our campaign was never about one person or even one election. It was about the country we love and about building an America that’s hopeful, inclusive, and bighearted."

Yes, it was about our country, about our future and that means it was about people too young to vote, many of whom demonstrated their disappointment the only way available to them, by walking out of school, by organizing peaceful protests, by exercising their 1st Amendment rights most creatively and vociferously.  Good for them!

True,  it was not about one person.  It was about the vision our candidate and leader crafted for us by way of her interlocking plans - plans and intersections that she had little opportunity to expose in the broadest available forum - the presidential debates. We are so accustomed to seeing Hillary patiently attempt to wait out interruptions to get to the next topic. In these debates she did manage to interrupt the interruptions, but the distractions were too many to allow her to piece together her plans for the largest audiences of the campaign season.

Yet, it appears that voters, young and old, male and female, married and single, with and without kids, aging parents, disabilities, LGBT family and friends, cats, dogs, parakeets, goldfish, and gerbils voted for Hillary Clinton.  An immense number of voters. As it stands while I write, Hillary won the popular vote while losing the election.  As of this writing,  this map shows three states still too close to call.  While the electoral votes have floated Trump over the 270 mark,  Hillary remains ahead in the popular vote.

We have been through this before of course.  With Hillary in 2008 when she won the popular vote but amassed insufficient delegates in the primary, and, more nationally traumatically, in 2000 when Al Gore was ahead in the popular vote, but Florida was too close to call.  We all remember the nightmare of those five weeks when the recount was on, off, on again, and then off again and finally, for the country, Al Gore conceded.

There are steps Hillary could have taken on election day or even the day after. She could have held off on her concession.  In close states, she probably could have requested recounts.  What she did instead was to spare the country a protracted period of suspense and uncertainty.  Like a vaccination, conceding hurt while preventing more devastating pain and suffering.  She probably would have ended up conceding anyway, but doing so Wednesday morning, November 9, was so much better for the country than the first or second week of December. Hillary is a true patriot and selflessly put the country first.

Still 4 Hill, this blog,  stood back and remained  silent when voices exerted increasing pressure on Hillary, from late 2013 through early Spring 2015, to make this run.  We knew the consequences would be a brutal campaign season.  Once she decided, however, we were in this for the long run and did everything we could here to help.  This community gave generously of their time, energy, and funds to Hillary's campaign. I could not be prouder of the efforts all of you put forth.  I could not be prouder of our candidate. This Thanksgiving, I thank God for all of you! You are warriors in the least mortal manner!

Hillary will probably end up winning the popular vote, and that speaks volumes about her message and her reach. Once, back in 2008 at an Eagle Academy graduation, a pastor who was giving the blessing told Hillary, "God isn't finished with you yet."  I thought about that after she conceded.  I believe it is still true.  There is more to come from Hillary Clinton, and we can't wait to see what it is.

One thing I have said here many times is that I am thankful to have walked the earth at the same time as Hillary Clinton.  We are all very lucky. Here is a letter from us to our Hillary.

Dear Hillary,
We guess it is now OK to address you as Hillary since we have been on a first name basis for awhile now in emails (and we are thrilled). How do we thank the woman who left it all on the field in the biggest contest on earth?  You have inspired and encouraged us in so many ways.
Thank you, Hillary, for all of your hard work, for all that you have taught us, for all the punishment you have taken, for being the first woman to win a major party's presidential nomination.  Thank you for always smiling, for fighting back when you had to, for being a role model for little girls and women, for running with honor, and for being our face to the world as secretary of state and as a presidential candidate.  Thank you for your lovely graciousness, for your warmth, for your interest in our issues, and for taking the trouble always to look beautiful and unruffled.  Women know what that takes.  We appreciate it. Thank you for your boundless energy that spurred us on even when we thought we would collapse from the pace. So many times when we were waning we would "Hillary up" and move on to the next task.
Thank you for being an exemplar of what women can achieve given opportunity,  a plank in your platform, not just in 2016, but all of your life. We know that being a public figure has never been especially comfortable for you, but you knew that being public made all of us more visible.
Thank you for being even-handed and fair. For all of your encouragement of women and girls, you never ignored or forgot the little boys.  You included them, and they heard you. Despite media hype, you had solid support from men as well as women because you listened to everyone's stories and concerns.
Thank you, Hillary. You are our hero! We all love you. We mean it!

Love,
The Still 4 Hill Community
P.S. (From the author: I know that every single time I have ever been in your presence I have seemed to be reciting a litany of thank yous. They are from the heart and sincere. I am privileged to have made your acquaintance and thankful for all you have done. Happy Thanksgiving!)

Folks, I know these seem like dark days.  Hillary's struggle has not died with her campaign.  She will find other paths. Like good scouts, we will be here to blaze the trail with her.  #WeAreStillWithHer because we have always been Still 4 Hill.  Add your own thoughts in the comment thread or just sign. I will print it out and send it to Hillary.

Thanksgiving is coming, the most American holiday aside from the 4th of July, and we have much to be thankful for. Feel free to share this with friends and family who might want to add positive messages of thanks to Hillary.

Hillary Clinton Concedes

This is the saddest invitation I have ever received.  Hearing Hillary speak and being in the same space with her is a joy, but it was clear what this speech was going to be.

Hillary Clinton to Offer Remarks This Morning in New York City

Hillary Clinton will deliver remarks to staff and supporters at 9:30 AM on Wednesday, November 9 at the New Yorker Hotel, Grand Ballroom - 481 8th Ave NY NY 10001. 

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Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine Make Remarks on Election Results

At the Wyndham New Yorker Hotel in New York City on Wednesday, Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine made the following remarks on Tuesday night’s election results:
Clinton and Kaine’s remarks, as transcribed, are below:
TIM KAINE:
“Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you, guys. Please, please, have a seat. Good morning.
My wife Anne and I are so proud of Hillary. I am proud of Hillary Clinton because she has been and is a great history-maker in everything she has done – as a civil rights lawyer and First Lady of Arkansas and First Lady of this country and senator, and secretary of state. She has made history in a nation that is good at so many things, but that has made it uniquely difficult for a woman to be elected to federal office. She became the first major-party nominee, as a woman, to be president, and last night won the popular vote of Americans to be president.
That is an amazing accomplishment. It is an amazing accomplishment.
I’m proud of Hillary Clinton because, in the words of Langston Hughes, she has held fast to dreams. She was inspired at a young age to an epiphany that if families and children do well, that’s the best barometer for whether society does well, and in everything she’s done, she’s focused on that. She – we know she would have made history as a president in one sense, but we never have had a president who’s made their whole career about the empowerment of families and children, and I was as excited about that in the Oval Office as I was excited to have my friend Hillary there and make history as the first woman president.
I’m excited and proud of Hillary because she has built such a wonderful team. There is a – there is a beautiful and kind of comical parable in the New Testament about a vineyard owner who hires people to work and says, ‘And I’m going to pay you this for a full day.’ Then he hires people at noon, ‘And I’m going to pay you the same thing for the half day.’ Then he hires people one hour before – ‘I’m going to pay you the same.’ And those who started early in the day say, ‘Hold on, we don’t like this that you’re treating everybody who came late just as well as you’re treating us.” I’m going to tell you something. Here’s what I’ve come to know so well about Hillary. The team that she has assembled over the years, of people that are so deeply loyal to her because she is so deeply loyal to them, is inspiring. But I’ve seen that same degree of loyalty and compassion and sensitivity extended to the most recent folks who have joined the team, the folks who came to the vineyard with just one hour to go. Her loyalty and compassion, of Hillary and Bill, to people – if you’re with you, you’re with you, and that is just something so remarkable.
And finally, I’m proud of Hillary because she loves this country.  Nobody had to wonder about Hillary Clinton, whether she would accept an outcome of an election in our beautiful democracy. Nobody had to ask that question. Nobody had to doubt it. She knows our country for what it is. She knows the system that we have, and in its warts and blemishes, she’s deeply in love with it and accepts it. She’s been in battles before where if it didn’t go her way, she accepted it but then woke up the next day and battled again for the dreams that she’s held fast to. And that love of country is something that I think is obvious to everybody, obvious to everyone.
I want to thank Hillary Clinton for asking Anne and I to join this wild ride. We – about a week before she asked if I would be her running mate, Anne and I went up to Westchester and we sat down with Hillary and Bill and with Chelsea and Marc and with Charlotte and Aidan for about three hours of conversation to try to determine whether we would be the right people to be on the ticket. And when we got in the car to head back to the airport after the three-hour discussion, I said to Anne, ‘Honey, I don’t know whether we’re going to be on this ticket or not, but I do know this: we’re going to remember that three hours for the rest of our life,’ and now we’ll remember 105 days that we’ve had with this fantastic couple of public servants and all of you for the rest of our life.
I’ll just say this. Hillary and I know well the wisdom in the words of William Faulkner. He said, ‘They kilt us but they ain’t whupped us yet.’ They kilt us – they kilt us but they ain’t whupped us yet. Because we know that the work remains. We know that the dreams of empowering families and children remain. And in that work, that important work that we have to do as a nation, it is so comforting, even at a tough time, to know that Hillary Clinton is somebody, until her very last breath, is going to be battling for the values that make this nation great and the values that we care so deeply about.
So now, please join me in welcoming Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton.”
HILLARY CLINTON:
“Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you all very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. A very rowdy group. Thank you, my friends. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so very much for being here.”
AUDIENCE MEMBER: “We love you!”
HILLARY CLINTON: “And I love you all too.
Last night, I congratulated Donald Trump and offered to work with him on behalf of our country. I hope that he will be a successful president for all Americans. This is not the outcome we wanted or we worked so hard for, and I am sorry that we did not win this election for the values we share and the vision we hold for our country. But I feel pride and gratitude for this wonderful campaign that we built together, this vast, diverse, creative, unruly, energized campaign. You represent the best of America, and being your candidate has been one of the greatest honors of my life.
I know how disappointed you feel because I feel it too, and so do tens of millions of Americans who invested their hopes and dreams in this effort. This is painful, and it will be for a long time. But I want you to remember this: Our campaign was never about one person or even one election. It was about the country we love and about building an America that’s hopeful, inclusive, and bighearted.
We have seen that our nation is more deeply divided than we thought, but I still believe in America and I always will. And if you do, then we must accept this result and then look to the future.
Donald Trump is going to be our president. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead. Our constitutional democracy enshrines the peaceful transfer of power, and we don’t just respect that, we cherish it. It also enshrines other things: the rule of law, the principle that we are all equal in rights and dignity, freedom of worship and expression. We respect and cherish these values too, and we must defend them.
Now, and let me add, our constitutional democracy demands our participation not just every four years but all the time. So let’s do all we can to keep advancing the causes and values we all hold dear: making our economy work for everyone, not just those at the top, protecting our country and protecting our planet, and breaking down all the barriers that hold any American back from achieving their dreams. We’ve spent a year and a half bringing together millions of people from every corner of our country to say with one voice that we believe that the American dream is big enough for everyone, for people of all races and religions, for men and women, for immigrants, for LGBT people, and people with disabilities – for everyone.
So now our responsibility as citizens is to keep doing our part to build that better, stronger, fairer America we seek, and I know you will. I am so grateful to stand with all of you. I want to thank Tim Kaine and Anne Holton for being our partners on this journey. It has been a joy getting to know them better, and it gives me great hope and comfort to know that Tim will remain on the front lines of our democracy representing Virginia in the Senate. To Barack and Michelle Obama, our country owes you an enormous debt of gratitude. We thank you for your graceful, determined leadership that has meant so much to so many Americans and people across the world. And to Bill and Chelsea, Marc, Charlotte, Aidan, our brothers and our entire family, my love for you means more than I can ever express. You crisscrossed this country on our behalf and lifted me up when I needed it most – even four-month-old Aidan, who traveled with his mom.
I will always be grateful to the creative, talented, dedicated men and women at our headquarters in Brooklyn and across our country. You poured your hearts into this campaign. For some of you who are veterans, it was a campaign after you had done other campaigns. Some of you, it was your first campaign. I want each of you to know that you were the best campaign anybody could have ever expected or wanted. And to the millions of volunteers, community leaders, activists and union organizers who knocked on doors, talked to neighbors, posted on Facebook, even in secret, private Facebook sites – I want everybody coming out from behind that and make sure your voices are heard going forward.
To everyone who sent in contributions as small as $5 and kept us going, thank you. Thank you from all of us. And to the young people in particular, I hope you will hear this. I have, as Tim said, spent my entire adult life fighting for what I believe in. I’ve had successes and I’ve had setbacks, sometimes really painful ones. Many of you are at the beginning of your professional, public and political careers. You will have successes and setbacks too. This loss hurts, but please, never stop believing that fighting for what’s right is worth it. It is. It is worth it. And so we need you to keep up these fights now and for the rest of your lives. And to all the women, and especially the young women who put their faith in this campaign and in me, I want you to know that nothing has made me prouder than to be your champion.
Now, I know we have still not shattered that highest and hardest glass ceiling, but someday someone will and hopefully sooner than we might think right now. And to all the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams.
Finally, I am so grateful for our country and for all it has given to me. I count my blessings every single day that I am an American, and I still believe as deeply as I ever have that if we stand together and work together with respect for our differences, strength in our convictions, and love for this nation, our best days are still ahead of us. Because, you know, I believe we are stronger together and we will go forward together. And you should never, ever regret fighting for that.
Scripture tells us: Let us not grow weary in doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. So, my friends, let us have faith in each other, let us not grow weary, let us not lose heart, for there are more seasons to come and there is more work to do.
I am incredibly honored and grateful to have had this chance to represent all of you in this consequential election. May God bless you and may God bless the United States of America.”

# # #

There was no joy in the room. Hillary is very strong, but she is also very sensitive. She was facing tearful faces and knew she had to lead. Only once did her voice nearly crack, but she delivered the speech she knew she had to.  She did it beautifully.

I want to thank everyone here who knocked on doors, made the calls, and made the donations.  We can be proud of this campaign and of our candidate.  In days to come we will emerge from our state of shock, see how the future is shaping up, and take our steps forward ... with Hillary.  #StillWithHer

Election Update: Evening Edition

Hillary and Bill Clinton voted this morning.  Have you voted yet?




There's Hillary with Dawn Evans Greenberg!





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IWILLVOTE.COM will give you a sticker after you vote!
  

If you are headed out at rush hour, this is important.



And it is not to late to donate if you can!

Election Day To Do List

1. Vote! Know where to go? Use this to help friends, too!



2. Help. Have some time to help out making calls?

Welcome Home, Hillary!!!

Shortly before 4 a.m. EST Hillary Clinton's campaign plane touched down at Westchester Airport for what is likely the last time. Press and staff deboarded, and a huge homeown crowd was on the tarmac awaiting and cheering her.

That's Hillary's van - those taillights you see.




The motorcade in front of the plane.













She will be voting in Chappaqua later this morning, but what a marathon day it was! And what a campaign!  Despite all the vitriol from the other side, Hillary did a great job of staying on topic.
So we bid farewell to the Stronger Together big blue plane.  We hope a different plane is in her future.  For now, everyone is glad to have her back home, safe and sound.  Well done, Hillary!  Welcome home!