On Thursday, we had a pretty snowy morning in NH. Most of the schools closed, but UNH was smack in the middle of finals week, so we had a short delay. So I went in to work. By about 3pm it was so dead I couldn't stand it anymore and left early. On the way home, I got a strange call from the campaign office: a carload of staff had gotten into a fender bender about 50 feet from my front door. Of course they could meet up at my house; I'm on my way.
By the time I got home, driving extra slowly of course, they were huddled around the kitchen table, eating leftover birthday cupcakes and Christmas cookies, looking so sheepish. And young. They were painfully sweet and polite (is that their personalities, or a job requirement?), and very embarrassed. They had gone out to lunch, dressed completely inappropriately for the weather because they weren't planning to be out long. ("Must make more calls.") But they just sat there, in no hurry. Maybe a few extra cookies or kid antics around the Christmas tree gave these exhausted kids a few moments of being home, so I let them linger before driving them back to headquarters.
Not too days later, I gave them the chance to return the favor when I locked my keys in my car in Downtown Dover, about a block from their office. Now it was me (and my son) who weren't dressed appropriately for the weather--we had just run an errand and stopped at Cafe On The Corner for cocoa. Now it was I, sheepishly knocking on their door. While I waited for a ride home, Griff played in the corner with blocks (they were our old one's I had donated but he didn't seem to notice, thank goodness) while I made a few phone calls to earn my keep.
So, this is going to sound a lot more pathetic than it really is, but I'm going to miss these guys. To all the campaign staff in NH (not just Edwards' but all you folks): Thanks, have safe travels over the holidays if you do in fact get to leave.
