I'm Still With Her

November 9, 2016

Dear Hillary,

Thank you.

All my life, I have heard that Hillary Clinton is too political. She’s too ambitious. She’s too calculating.  I’ve heard every move you’ve made questioned, critiqued, criticized. People always had an opinion. I was indifferent. Before all this, I never minded the idea of you as president, because I knew you were highly qualified for the job. But I never realized that I would become quite passionate about you. Not just “Anyone but Trump,” but you.

I learned more about you over the campaign: where you came from, your family’s story, that you’re the kind of grandma who shows her grandson a giant plane on facetime in the middle of the most intense campaign in history. I saw pictures of you when you were my age helping others, saw the pride Chelsea has in her eyes when she looks at her mom, watched you field double standard after double standard, staying calm, collected and a pillar of fearlessness when a bully tried to yell you down. And then I saw your supporters. The women who were born in a time they couldn’t vote, and the girls born from immigrants; the gun violence survivors and firefighters and police officers; the women wearing hijabs and Hillary t-shirts; the gay couple celebrating their family, and the boy with disabilities; the shades of colors, the range of ages. I saw my own 4 year old like you immediately, because you were “smart and strong.” “Let’s go Hillary!” she cheered.  

People say you’re too pragmatic, responsible, don’t need to be liked.  But looking at post after post on Pantsuit Nation, I felt the uplifting wave of hope that we felt in 2008 and 2012 that had nothing to do with pragmatics. Wearing my late grandma’s bracelet on my wrist with one daughter beside me, one in my arms, and one baby growing in my belly, I felt the deep and moving inspiration of what it meant to vote for not just any woman, but you. That moment in history gave me chills all day. It still does. I think it always will.

Thank you.  You’ve shown my daughters an intelligent woman who stands up for herself, but more importantly others. You’ve shown me what it means to feel power as a woman, as a mother, that we are capable of so much. My girls won’t know of a time when women weren’t on the ballots, because they watched me fill in the small circle beside your name when their memories were just starting to form. You showed my girls that you don’t step down from an ugly fight when it’s what you believe in; that you don’t have to shout and bully your opinion at someone else; that “we” is the key word of leadership, and that unity is always the end-goal. You showed them grace when there is heartbreak, dignity when there is loss, and your unwavering ability to pick yourself up, brush off, and keep fighting is why I will always proudly say I’m With Her. Thank you for having that strength.

I did not realize what this campaign would mean to me; how the results would shake me to my core, that your speech would leave me in tears the following day. I know now that you are someone that will stick with me and my daughters, with a new perspective, a new appreciation, and a new strength that won’t be taken for granted. You deserved that glass ceiling, but I think because of you it is still ours for the taking. With every girl that now believes in herself, with every woman who stands up for what is right, with every female elected to offices around the nation, I hope you feel the glass raining around you and know that you were the one who led us there. Thank you.

With much gratitude, admiration, and love from our family,  

Carly Eccles Sheaffer 

Adalyn's (as dictated, unprompted, by her)

For anyone wishing to write Hillary a thank you, the address is listed below. 

Hillary for America 
P.O. Box 5256 
New York, NY 10185-5256