But... the people I meet around New Mexico give me the fuel to keep going
Saturday we had an event filled day departing Albuquerque at 6:47a.m. My staffer noted that I was 2 minutes late. I depend on staff for that external discipline; to keep us on track, on message and on time. Jessica does that. She is efficient, effective, timely and constantly gives feedback on what I am saying in the speeches. It is a terrible responsibility to place on a 25 year old. Campaigns are exhausting, burdensome and highly stressful. The young seem to take to it naturally.
After departing the hotel so late, we arrived on time at our 8 am breakfast in Belen. It was well attended.
People who show up on Saturday for a political event REALLY love this nation.
We duplicated the event later in the morning at Los Lunas. If it is hard to get people out to a Saturday breakfast, the mid-morning events are even harder to fill, but the hosts at both events really did great jobs.
By noon, we were at the Owl Café in San Antonio. Rowena and Leo had a good group there to have green chile cheeseburgers, red beans and Q & A.
We spent the afternoon talking to businessmen in Truth or Consequences with more Q&A. Saturday evening we attended the sponsor banquet for the Boys and Girls club of T or C. Thanks to Rotary for hosting that. The Boys and Girls Club in this small town has more members after only 1 year, than are in the club Oprah started in her hometown. That is an accomplishment!
The event featured student musicians who take guitar lessons at the Club. There were two groups that performed, and then 15 year old Jayla Dow dropped jaws when she performed a song she has composed for the State FFA competition. The lyrics to “C-C-C-Country Boy” were fluid, fast moving and image filled. I don’t know much about guitar playing but I know about command…like an Aircraft Commander. She was in total command of the guitar, striking it with authority. She was very nervous but never once struck a tentative chord.
There was testimony from Leesha, a young girl who found herself in the Club this past year and how she now is into photography, guitar and now makes straight A’s. An energetic single mom talked about moving to T or C and finding a life and a place for her kids to be while she was working. She emphasized how important it was for non-family adults to take an interest in her kids.
These are the kind of healings our land needs. Jeremiah also talked about the impact the kids in the club have had on his young life.
After the event, we drove home, 357 miles... My wife and Jessica drove one car, I drove the other. We got into Hobbs at 2 am. We had an event Sunday afternoon in LeaCounty and then back home for the night.
People ask all the time, how can you keep this sort of schedule up?
It is comments like the following that was recently posted on the Campaign Facebook Page that said:
“Steve...you won my 13 year-old daughter over!! …” referring to an interaction we had a few days prior at a homeschool event in Santa Fe.
This is how I keep going. These unsolicited, but deeply valued stories fuel my desire, fuel an emotional tank that is always depleting.
When 13 year old students get involved...how can I be tired? When I see the hope and promise of a 15 year old song writer in a small town in New Mexico, how can I be weary? When I hear the story of a single mom capturing her life back, how can I be jaded? When I see the young girl learning to define her14 year old life, how can I be uninvolved? When I see young staffers work till exhaustion and still be on time the next day, and push on with me until 2 am, when I live with a wife who does all this and never, ever complains,
HOW COULD I NOT HAVE ENERGY TO DO EVERYTHING THAT NEEDS TO BE DONE TO SAVE THIS GREAT COUNTRY?
I will fight for our freedoms; I will fight for the future.
I believe in the future because everyday I see these tangible stories of people striving to succeed, to help propel our nation to exceptionalism in the next generation.
I see the future presenting itself to me in these stories and examples of the hopes, dreams and efforts of the American People, of the people of New Mexico. May God bless this great nation, but may we as a nation bless those nations around us.
