Hi, loves. 🌿

A note from your phonebank Moms

Well, here we are.

I don’t have much to add to all the noise out there right now, but in the wake of all of this, I knew one small thing for sure: I needed to be sure that our kids, who worked so hard these last few weeks and are so heartbroken, knew how vital that work had been.

When my friends Ali, Betsy, Elizabeth and I set up weekly phone banks and postcard-writing sessions for Kamala these last few weeks, we had no idea that our friends’ kids (who are between nine and 16) would be the greatest phonebankers of all. Truly, we thought they’d write postcards or make signs, but they launched in with such joy and force. It was the most amazing thing to witness.

So in the wake of all this, I wrote them a letter, which I’m including below. The pride we all feel in them will always outweigh our current heartbreak.

Hi all,

We want to tell you all how enormously proud we are of you. You worked hard, you showed up, you tried something new, you showed extraordinary dedication and grit. You talked to people you didn’t know! You got hung up on! We didn’t know when we set up these phone banks that our best callers would be you! We had no idea that you’d take this on with so much confidence and joy and enthusiasm — and this was the best part of all this for us, your parents and friends, to see you all shine so, so brightly.

Obviously you already know the elephant in the room: sometimes you can put in a lot of work, you can fight the good fight, and you don’t always win. This is always a disappointment, and this one was pretty big. Kamala and Tim were — and are — wonderful candidates and would have been incredible leaders of our country, and I think each of you knew that on some deep level. You knew that they’d make this country better for you.

But you also joined in because you knew that YOU could make this place better for you, and this is why you came back a few Sundays in a row, or wrote postcards in your own time, or made beautiful posters. You knew that showing up was not only good for your country but for your community, and also that it was good for you — you knew that being part of something bigger than yourself is really what makes the world go around. And the fact that we lost this one doesn’t mean that work wasn’t worth it. It was! Very much so. Not only because you fought for something you believed in but because you got to be part of the greater fabric of this country and our small community, and because you all pushed yourselves in amazing ways. We will be forever proud of all the heart and joy you put into getting Kamala elected.

It’s okay to be sad and it’s okay to move on, to wake up and enjoy your family and your friends and go to soccer and dance class. But now you also know that you can take on a lot. You can contribute in surprising and important ways, you can endure hard losses, and in the next few months and years, we will call on you again to be part of this. We can’t wait to be working arm in arm with you.

xoxoxoxo Abby, Betsy, Ali + Elizabeth