Thank god for Glen Frey…Take it Easy

10 Feb Thank god for Glen Frey…Take it Easy

The IOWA campaign caucus millennial experience (aka me as a Caucus Fellow) was profoundly summed up on the long snowy drive from Davenport to my home in Chicago. I love XM Radio—what is better than three hours of 70’s music when you know the words to every song? Or you make them up?

So, I am somewhere on I-88 near the Illinois border and the Eagles speak to me: “We may lose and we may win though we will never be here again…take it easy…take it easy…don’t let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy.”

I am quite certain Glen Frey is not serenading Hillary…obviously he is singing right to me. “I’m running down the road trying to loosen my load…”

There is a lot of free time on the empty roads of Iowa. And since I don’t quite understand how to download podcasts I was forced to talk to myself…sing off key…and think quietly about the open road ahead.

Here is the take away:

I don’t want to be 25 years old again.

I love being 53 and knowing there is a home somewhere filled with framed family pictures and stuff and memories of a life I have beautifully created thus far.

Freedom feels pretty great.

Being a mom is the best job I will ever have (although I will never miss the carpool line)…but I love my life now, watching my children launch themselves into independence and allowing me to do the same. Thank you for that privilege. And while technically my empty nest freedom means I can follow the campaign and move to New Hampshire, Nevada or South Carolina, it is not happening. But that’s my free choice.

I can’t eat fried food three meals a day.

I don’t really like paper plates either.

I rise to the occasion and genuinely give it my best shot.

I don’t know how to do it any other way. Two nights before the Caucus I stood in 10 degree temperatures trying to direct people and traffic at a Clinton event when someone complained to me about the line. My honest reply, “We are all doing our best.” And we did… and we worked hard. Harder than I thought I could.

Millennials are (mostly) amazing.

They need to work on please and thank you— and the art of the “schmooze.” But the ones I had the honor of sharing a tiny space with are diligent, determined and smart as shit. I miss my Iowa children…we had a blast! (And one day I will be able to listen to a podcast, Twitter, send an email and talk on the phone all at the same time—while looking at my Facebook page.)

So much is possible, if you choose it…and simply put…believe in yourself. I abandoned rules, expectations and judgement and embraced my newly discovered freedom. I discovered it is okay to have fun, feel free, roll down the window and sing as loud as you want.

We are pretty damn capable at this stage of our game. It’s not easy to make it this far! We know how to do “stuff.”

Just remember, “take it easy…don’t let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy.”