The long good-bye

I watched the coverage of Senator Kennedy's death from the moment the story broke (had been up channel surfing) until the closing shots of his grandsons, clutching their hands together across the top of his coffin, sobbing in the early darkness of Saturday night.


It has been very sad, and yes, not unexpected - especially when we learned he was too ill to attend the services for Eunice a couple of weeks ago. But somehow, I just never really thought it would happen - that if anyone was going to beat this, it would be Ted.


Growing up in Boston, an Italian-Scots-Irish Catholic school kid, the Kennedy's were always there, always 'in charge', always something special. Earlier this month, I was moved by Mrs. Shriver's death and recalled how I had met her while I was in college and campaigning for her husband's Presidential candidacy. I met Senator Ted Kennedy a couple of years later, in early 1979.


After college, my first paying job was as Office Manager at Campaign Headquarters for Paul Guzzi for US Senate. Mr. Guzzi, former Secretary of State of Massachusetts, lost the election to Paul Tsongas, but being a well-liked and respected Democrat, benefitted from a state-party committee sanctioned campaign-debt retirement effort. One of the fund-raisers was on a brisk winter night, on 'the boat' at Anthony's Pier 4 Restaurant.


Anyone who was anyone in Massachusetts politics was there, and anyone who wanted to be anyone was, too.


I remember the night vividly as I was young, impressionable, and enjoying a pretty "swank" time ... this was still the day of open bars in Massachusetts and there was plenty of alcohol flowing and fabulous food. I had my very first taste of Oysters Rockefeller that night. And lots and lots of political debate was going on in various corners, at many tables and around the cocktail bar.


The entrance to the function room was slightly sunken - as you entered through the double doors, there was a large wide, curving platform and a single step down into the main body of the room. It was not a steep step, barely 4 inches I think, but enough to set those not yet into the room at a slightly elevated level 'above the crowd'.


I was standing with some of my friends, all of us recent college grads who had been thrown together and forged friendships in the hot-house of a heated summer campaign (the party had determined Republican Senator Ed Brooke was ripe for ousting and it was the first time in a while that there had been real energy around a challenge to his seat). We were talking and laughing about some silly thing or another, comparing notes about who got to meet Tip O'Neill, and did you just get a handshake or were you able to actually have a conversation with him? Was that (Massachusetts AG) Bellotti over there? Was the Governor coming? and so on ....


And then, the doors opened and as if someone cued the crowd, it parted, and he stood there ... center stage on the entry platform ... strategically under one of the overhead recessed lights ... he paused for just the briefest of seconds ... but it seemed as though time stood still - you could hear every one in the room hold their breath.


He looked powerful, stately - that thick head of hair haloed by the overhead light, his right arm slightly bent, hand not quite in his pocket/not quite out .... then he turned his head, surveying the room, and smiled that famous, brilliant Kennedy smile ...


As he started down the step and into the room, the buzz picked up and people jockeyed to shake his hand, whisper in his ear and so forth ....


The news this morning called him "a lion", and yes that is the way he looked with that great mane and smile ... but it was more than that, he moved through the crowd with ease, making each person feel as though he were looking only at them, shaking hands, laughing at jokes ... working the crowd ... but it was more than typical political glad-handing ... He had a way about him, he had charisma, and something more than that.


When he ran for President against Jimmy Carter, I made a bumper sticker of white contact paper and black vinyl letters which I proudly sported on my little red Toyota Corolla station wagon "Cranberries ... not Peanuts" ....


One summer evening, I was driving from Boston City Hall, where I worked, to yet another fund-raiser, heading down the Surface Artery, when someone started beeping at me. I thought "what the heck?" and kept going .. the beeping continued, so I sort of slid over and waved to the car behind me to pass. The bright orange VW Squareback pulled along side me and I realized who it was ... Senator Kennedy, giving me a big thumbs up and that incredible smile (I almost drove into a stanchion I think) ... it made my day!


I remember watching the DNC Convention later that summer, ensconced on the couch of a summer condo in Dennisport on Cape Cod - his speech was amazing and I remember thinking 'this man can do so much'. It was an exhilirating moment at the end of a rather tepid campaign.


I think he ran because he had to, but his heart was not in it; his heart was in the Senate - where he was more successful and effective than he ever could have been as President.


For those memories and for the decades of work, of commitment to not only the Commonwealth of Massachusetts whom he served so ably, but also for his commitment to this country, for the 300+ laws that bear his imprint and for the example he set for public service and social progress, Senator "Ted" Kennedy will always be remembered and honored.


But I think that his greatest accomplishment was of such a personal nature and yet stands as his strongest example for each of us, and that is his journey from indulged youngest son through troubled adult to successful elder.


He showed us that you can bear the unbearable by enduring the many Kennedy family tragedies in full public view; he showed us it is possible to pick up the mantle and shoulder responsibility that no one expects you to carry, and move forward; and he showed us that redemption is never impossible.


He lived his life, he grew through adversity, and in words he himself used often, showed us that "the work remains unfinished" and that is as it should be.


I am going to miss Senator Kennedy, very much.