I couldn’t get to the rally in Phoenix today, and I feel really bad. I wanted to be one of those 8,255 people cheering you on — letting you know that there are still so many of us pushing for you. But, I was exhausted.

I just moved again this week. It just keeps getting harder and harder to do this at my age (I’m past 60 and that’s as much as I will admit). I had to “borrow” money (which I will never be able to pay back) from my kids again to come up with the deposit for my new rental. I work hard, but it is always juggling low paying jobs and I’m never quite able to get ahead. Since Arizona is a right-to-work state, there are few unions to push for a minimum wage of $15/hour. And with the ACA employer mandate, the company where I work won’t give part time people more than 30 hours/week — sometimes my weekly hours are down at 8. It is difficult to schedule my second job (I do housekeeping) because the first job changes hours all of the time. And I’m tired.

I managed to drag myself to my son-in-law’s birthday party this evening. I didn’t want to disappoint him. I thought, “I’ll just go for an hour and then go home to bed.” But, surprisingly, I stayed until 2 AM.

Why did I have the energy to keep going?

Because among the guests at the party, there were millennials who were Berners — passionate young people who have heard the call.

They knew more about what was REALLY going on in politics than most of the people I know who are my age. Every one of them had stories about their fears of climate change. One young man was almost in tears with a story of watching the glaciers melt when he was in Alaska. Another spoke solemnly of how there just aren’t enough progressive people to actually force progress, and, he was hoping that it wasn’t too late to save the planet. A tiny young woman stood up and raised her fists when talking about how much we have to fight for the changes — and she could recite ‘chapter and verse’ on how badly the country needs Bernie Sanders.

The conversation went in all directions with 15 participants speaking rationally about two-party systems, democratic socialism, constitutional amendments, and the issues facing our country today — what is wrong and what is right. I was exhilarated! I was back in the 1960’s with deja vu all over again. Only this time, this young generation has so much more to offer. They have the world at their fingertips with social media and they don’t seem to rely on any ONE source for their news — they have a very broad view of the ‘real’ world (and the WHOLE world, not just their piece of it). And all 15 of these millennials were Berners!

So, I got to go to a Bernie rally, after all. Maybe Bernie couldn’t hear me screaming my support, but, I hope that he hears me telling him: there is more screaming of support than you would have heard at the coliseum in Phoenix today.

And now I’m going to sleep, satisfied that there is a whole generation gearing up for a political revolution!

Go, Bernie!

(cross-posted at dailykos. I wanted to put it here as well so that people who have been banned or who no longer feel welcome at dk can still see the hope in our young people)