Thank Heaven for Little Girls

Saw this commentary online in The Atlantic by Megan Mcardle :  "I've been thinking about one meeting in particular:  the time I met Senator Moynihan. I was eight.  I shook his hand so enthusiastically that I may have injured it."  Reading that recalled my meeting with Adlai Stevenson during the 1956 campaign for President.  I was about eight or nine and met him [my father was running, unsuccessfully, for Governor of Iowa and we all went to welcome Senator Stevenson to a campaign stop in Iowa].  And, with my own childish enthusiasm,  I vowed that I would never wash my hand again.  Of course, I did soon enough, but I remember how excited I was and enthused to meet someone dedicated to public service.  And I remember that he had a way with words and humor [which may seem old fashioned now].  It's inspiring to see that sense of excitement continues even to today.  And hopeful it does into the future.