Hillary Clinton in Montclair, NJ

We had the opportunity last week to meet Hillary Clinton at a local book event. The event sold out in about an hour, but my wife and I luckily secured 2 tickets, which included meeting Hillary and receiving a signed copy of her new book.

After the election, I felt fortunate that my daughter Emily was still very young and I wouldn’t have to explain to her what had happened. Though it saddened me incredibly that she wouldn’t know the first president she would remember being a strong female figure. Since then, I’ve been playing her (and still play for her) YouTube videos of Obama so she knows what it is to be presidential.

I thought it would be a good idea to bring her along to the event since children her age didn’t need a ticket. I thought maybe it would be nice introducing her to Hillary, and maybe she might even remember it at this point. My wife, being realistic, didn’t think it was a good idea. Emily has been having temper tantrums as of late, and maybe waiting on line for 2 hours wouldn’t work out too well. Instead, my parents watched her.

There were children selling lemonade in front of their house where there were literally a thousand people waiting on line. It was quite hot out and thought this was a pretty clever idea. They must have made a small fortune selling cups of lemonade at a dollar a cup. I actually said something like, “You can probably go on vacation with all that money you are making. And still maybe buy a new video game.” They laughed and replied, “We’re actually donating half of it to hurricane victims.” My jaw dropped. These kids were maybe 9-years-old and already thinking of people other than themselves. Real people who are suffering. I was happy and impressed by this.

My wife wasn’t thrilled that I was wearing a brewery t-shirt to the Hillary Clinton event. But funny enough, one of the police officers passing by the line shouted over to me that he loves that brewery (Magnify Brewery in Caldwell, NJ if you were wondering).

Even funnier… as I approached Hillary Clinton…

HRC: So that’s a brewery on your shirt there?

Me: Yes, they are local.

HRC: I love it! I love it!

So yes, of course Hillary said something about my brewery t-shirt! 😎