A Goodbye Letter to the President

Tomorrow President Bush leaves office. I am sure he is an avid reader of my blog, so please indulge me as I leave him a goodbye message. There are some things he just needs to know.

Dear Mr. President,

Tomorrow at noon you leave office. How could eight years have gone by so quickly? It seems like just yesterday I was standing in line to vote in the 2000 election thinking I would know that night if you won. Thirty-nine days is a long time to have to wait, but, let me say, well worth it!

There is something you need to know about the 2000 election. I stood in line at a water reclamation plant for an hour and fifteen minutes with a four year old to cast my ballot. Have you ever visited a water reclamation plant? Don't. Oh, the stink! And, I really think it shouldn't be called a water reclamation plant, but rather a mosquito breeding facility. I thought more than once that I should just forget it and not vote. But I stayed. Not because I was such a patriot ... I had the four year old with me, remember? She would have tattled. And, so I waited. And voted. In Orlando. As in Florida. And, so Mr. President, you must know, I cast the winning vote.

I have never once thought I voted wrong. I didn't. You were the right man for our country these past eight years. You were President during some of our country's most difficult days. No President has faced what you had to face ... you did this and kept our country in tact. There was no playbook. There was no "we always do it this way". There was no one else to push blame on. It was you. You stood between our country and terrorists for eight years. How can "Thank You" be enough?

Mr. President, when I think back on your Presidency there are things I will long remember...

*September 11th. You showed the world you were our LEADER. You brought hope to our country. You may have been quaking in your boots, but you never showed it. You stood for us when we were too scared to stand ourselves.
*Your ability to laugh and smile and not take yourself too seriously. You are humble, sir.
*Your willingness to tell the world that you seek the will of the Almighty. God clearly guides your path. Thank you for being willing to seek Him. (When Torrey was 4 she picked you to be her President. When we asked her why she said "Because him loves Jesus." When we asked her how she knew, she just said "Look at him's eyes." She knew because she could see Him in you. Kids are amazing ... and, rarely wrong.)
*You made decisions that might not have been popular, but you stood by them without wavering because they were what was right for our country. Those decisions cost you "popularity votes" ... but, being President can't always be about being popular.
*You had to make the difficult decision to send our country into war. You. Just you. And, you didn't make that decision willy-nilly. You made the best decision for our country based on the intelligence of THAT day. History will show that. It will.
*The kindness with which you treated those around you is rare. Your actions speak loudly about who you are!
*You are a man of integrity. That is hard to find these days.

The Media can be hard. Downright difficult at times. I have a feeling that their thoughts on you will change in the coming years. They will have to admit that they got you and your Presidency wrong. Terribly wrong. Time has a way of righting wrongs. I pray you live to see it.

Today, our country is full of hope for tomorrow and what they think a new President will bring. I am feeling a bit of that hope, mostly because of the peaceful transition of power our country enjoys. No other country can do what our country can do when we put our bickering behind us. You tried to teach us that. You tried to show us that. I am grieving for what our country is losing. You have served us well. You have loved us well. You will be missed.

Tomorrow your feet will once again hit Texas soil as a private citizen. As a Texan (albeit a "new" Texan), let me say, "Welcome Home, Mr. President. Welcome Home." May your days be full of family, surrounded by those you love and who love you in return. May you always know how your time in the White House changed not only your life, but the life of our Nation as well. We are a better people because of you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Sincerely and with a grateful heart,

Tracy

Um, if anyone knows the President, could you please tell him he has mail?!

And, may tomorrow once again remind our country of who we are and may America never lose sight of the principles we were founded on. May God continue to guide us and keep us in the palm of His hands.