My Moment with Bernie!

Bernie came to Minneapolis for an appearance on Sunday, May 31. The event was scheduled at the Native American Indian Center in order to accommodate a larger-than-expected crowd. While I had gotten to the venue 45 minutes early, I wasn’t sure I was going to get in because persons were already serpentined in front of the building. As I finally got into the building, I found standing room only on the first floor only. I decided to head up to the second floor rest room because I wasn’t sure how long all of this was going to go on. As I exited the restroom, I saw the balcony facing the stage that offered a perfect spot for Bernie’s presentation. Looking to plant myself there, I was shooed away by an usher who said that the space was reserved for those in wheel chairs. I headed down to the first floor. When I got to the main floor, I looked back towards the balcony and saw that persons had spilled over the balcony railing and were sitting on stacked bleacher seats just below. I knew that was where I wanted to be so I headed up to the second floor again using the back stairs. Just as I came up the stairs who should be coming my way, but Bernie! I hailed him with a hearty “HEY!” and just stood there to let him pass. Bernie stopped in front of me, looked at me, smiled, saw the T-shirt I was wearing, which was EATMOREKALE’s original Bernie design, and then offered me his hand. No words were exchanged; none were needed; it was a shared moment. As his wife, Jane, came by she offered the warm embrace of her smile, sharing the excitement that we all had about where we were and where we are headed.