It was instead the three am alarm clock that my husband had asked me to set. He got home last night at around 9pm from a candidate forum in Fullerton. He hadn’t eaten dinner and was trying to figure out what to have (He wasn’t much interested in what I had made for dinner, although it was nicely packed in a tupperware container in the fridge just in case he wanted it). He also let me know that the people who had volunteered to put his signs out were unable to do so now.
So, he asked me to set the alarm for 3am. He had spent the afternoon attempting to put signs up but with the traffic, etc., he said it took too long. He was going to get up and do it when there was hardly anyone on the road.
You can’t knock him for not being dedicated.
Gary Pritchard, my husband, is running for the California State Senate in the 33rd district. He first did this to put a “D” on the ballot and then decided he would do the best he could. It was quite an undertaking for us but why not?
It has proven to be quite a bit for us to handle but we are doing it. Gary works full time, as do I and we have a five year daughter. It’s been quite a juggling act.
Gary called on Wednesday to ask if I could pick up the stakes for the signs and find a way to assemble them. Sure! I panicked a bit but then called the South OC Democratic Club and they were kind enough to assemble his signs. Done.
But this morning, Gary got up at 3am to put his signs out. I tried to go back to sleep, I know. What kind of wife am I? Well, I’m the kind of wife who seems to be coming down with another cold and who has health problems that tend to get worse with lack of sleep. He understands this.
Gary got back at about 5:30 am. To say it was a restful night would be far from the truth. My alarm went off at 6:30 and it was time to start my day.
After showering and getting our five year old up and dressed, I came down stairs to find that Gary had made breakfast. Biscuits (Trader Joe’s is a Godsend, they were fresh from the oven) and eggs. Charlotte was eating away and Gary had already packed her snack for school.
I could tell he was tired. Gary still has to teach today but he said he could get another couple of hours of sleep in before having to be at school. And then after that he would be putting more signs up.
The 33rd district covers a huge amount of area, including Anaheim, Anaheim Hills, Fullerton, Villa Park, Orange, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Woods, Laguna Hills, Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, Aliso Viejo, Buena Park, Tustin, Silverado, Irvine, Santa Ana, Lake Forest, Coto de Caza and Foothill Ranch. I like to call the district map, “Rexi”.
Gary and I spent Saturday morning putting up some of the signs with Charlotte in the car. Now when she sees them, she screams, “I was with you when you put those up, right?” We saw a few on the way to school and on my way to work. I managed some blurry photos from my blackberry. I had to get the signs while they were still up, who knows how long they’ll last.
This was the first attempt. Um, what sign?
Not fast enough!
Too soon!
Ah, there we go!
There are a lot of signs popping up all over the County, I’m glad to see some of them belong to Gary. I’m proud of him and for how willing he is to work hard for this even if it means we don’t see very much of him at times.
I got this with my camera phone as well. There have been a lot of local protests in favor of Prop 8.
But I try to remember the most important thing about all of this. Gary is doing this for Charlotte, our five year old. She’s bright, she’s daring and she’s sweet.
Charlotte doesn’t quite understand why anyone would care about who someone marries but then again, I don’t think she needs to understand that right now. I just attempt to answer her questions as simply and honestly as possible. As much as I want to shelter her from things, I know that by making no question off limits, I will hopefully help her grow to be a compassionate and caring citizen who questions authority and loves her Country very much. The two are not mutually exclusive!
So, that was our 3 am moment. I’m sure there will be others, weve still got two more weeks of this to go and I have to say, I’m really looking forward to November 5th.
Gary and Charlotte!
How? And you still have time to wrote for us, too? 😉