Happy Valentine’s Day | Amy O’Rourke
Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope you find a moment today to spend with a loved one. In our house, I am taking the kids (and one friend each) to dinner and have ice cream before basketball practice (giving their parents a rare chance to get a night out alone!). Thankfully Beto is not much for Hallmark holidays, but regardless, I think it’s a tough day to be away from us. If I were better prepared, we would have sent sweet, handwritten notes to him, but I was barely able to rally the kids to finish their science fair projects in time! Hopefully, he can join our dinner date virtually.
Last week, when Beto was delayed in D.C. for the vote on the budget, he asked me to speak on his behalf to a group in East Texas. Knowing how much work the group had put into organizing the event, I wanted to make sure they felt our appreciation by having at least one O’Rourke there in person. On the flight over, as I dreaded about what I was going to say, I had to laugh at how times have changed.
Beto and I met in December of 2004, and a month later, when we were barely dating, he announced his run for the City Council. I tagged along to neighborhood meetings, fundraisers, and block walking. I was new to El Paso and new to politics. Like this year, Valentine’s Day took a back seat to work and campaign priorities. But in the end, the hard work paid off and we beat a well-funded incumbent and were part of a progressive city council that did so much that we are still proud of.
If you had told me then that 13 years later, I would be flying across the state to speak on Beto’s behalf in a US Senate race, I would have laughed. No chance! But my solo trip could not have gone better. I remembered 80% of what I wanted to say, and like every part of Texas I have traveled to, the room was filled with smart, compassionate, and fired up people working to make 2018 the year. They welcomed me and encouraged me to come back, with or without Beto.
So, as Beto and I say to most everything now, we’ll celebrate Valentine’s Day in 2019!!!
Thanks for being the chocolate in our red Valentine’s heart —
Amy
