On Saturday, during his press conference as new DNC Chair, Howard Dean said that he was going to maintain a residence in Washington and one in Vermont, while his wife Judy would stay in Vermont and maintain her practice. He also said that, from what he learned from Terry McAuliffe, he was mostly going to be living in hotel rooms.
I have always been one to sympathize with Judy--or at least to imagine how I would feel if I were in her position. Back during the primary season, after watching an interview on 60 Minutes II, I started this page of "thank you" messages. As someone who has been married for 17 years myself, I know that life can take some unexpected turns, and sometimes for marriage to not only survive but thrive, you need to be extremely flexible and gracious. Below the fold is how I put this into words when I started the "thank you" page.
I just finished watching 60 Minutes II. Interesting that they talked about his wife and how she isn't on the campaign trail with Dean. I was just thinking about the sacrifices the Deans need to make for this campaign. I probably started thinking about it because my own husband is up late working a lot of nights and we don't get as much time together as we would like.
Then I thought about how hard it must be for Judy to have him away so much of the time, in the spotlight, and with all the speculation about "will she really be able to keep practicing medicine?" After all, this isn't what she signed on for--she married a doctor and was in practice with him. He got involved in politics gradually, and now he is running for president!
I guess a lot of people compare Dr. Steinberg Dean to other political wives and note what she is not doing, but I've been thinking about this and comparing her to myself or any other married woman who is facing major changes in her life, over which she has little control. She has been very gracious.
A lot of the time, people post to tell Dean that he's great, and thank him for giving them hope again. Right now, I'd love for us to send a big "people-powered" thank you to Judith Steinberg Dean her part in all of this.
I have been thinking that thanks are in order yet again. If you agree, please post your own thank you messages to Judy here.
Also, since it is Valentine's Day, some of us wanted to do something special for her. Christine in Mass on Blog for America collected donations and ordered vases of tulips for Judy, which she will receive today. In addition, I have been trying to brainstorm with people about something that we could do in Judy's honor, like donating to a cause that is important to her. No one was able to come up with any specific organizations that are near and dear to her heart when I asked.
So I tried to think of a charitable organization that was medical in nature. The first thing I came up with was "Doctors Without Borders". Even though they have more than enough for their tsunami relief efforts, they continue to need donations to their general fund. Here is the contribute page. One of the links is for donating "In Memorial or Honor of a Friend or Relative". Not sure if there is a way to do that as a group or not, but maybe some of you can help look into this.
http://www.doctorswithoutborders-usa.org/donate/