People Make The Difference

The moving van came yesterday and loaded up our belongings,
the children are in Wisconsin in the care of Grandma and Grandpa
while I am here in Washington packing up and saying goodbye to a
city and a life that I have loved and enjoyed.
Last night John and I had dinner at the White House. The
President and Mrs. Carter invited us and the other retiring members of Congress for a farewell dinner. It was a wonderful evening, one that I will long remember. After it was over, we drove back to our neighbor's house where we spent the night.

I felt that last night summed up our time in Washington. We have many wonderful memories. Some of them are of dancing to Peter Duchin's orchestra at the White House Christmas Ball and others are of sitting on our patio laughing at a funny birthday card a neighbor and friend made for John.

I am going to miss it here. I feel somewhat like I did when I graduated from college. I had lived, laughed and cried (a lot the first year) all through those four years of school. When it was time for graduation it was very painful saying goodbye to that life. That doesn't mean I wanted my college years to continue, because I didn't. It was time for a change and I was anxious to see what was ahead.

I've come to the conclusion that change is difficult no matter how determinedly you seek it If I were overjoyed at the prospect of leaving Washington it would mean that I hadn't been happy here, and I have been happy, very happy. Yet, I'm also excited about our return to Omaha.

We are sorry to leave our house here. After last evening's dinner at the White House, John and I stopped off at our empty house to pick up a few of our remaining things and to say goodbye. It was a sentimental visit. We relived our first night in the house; the excitement we felt at the prospect of making that house our Washington home. The barren living room and dining room reminded us of three years back when we didn't have any furniture but had plenty of space for all the guests at my surprise birthday party. We laughed as we talked of the changes we made in the house, one being the eviction of the raccoon from the attic.

More than our house we will miss the people who have become part of our lives. Our Maureen, whose every other sentence pertained to Amy Gray, will miss her inseparable friend, but eventually (and unfortunately) her memory of Amy will grow dimmer but it won't for me. I'll always have a very vivid picture of the two little girls sitting in the bath tub after Maureen cut Amy's hair.

My friend Mary Stanford is always helping me out. She says her children are somewhat grown up and mine aren't so I need the help. She tells me, "When you're 50 you can help out someone expecting her fifth child. Of course, it will probably be against the law to have five children then." I'll miss her because she says things like that.

Since John made this decision to leave Congress and we decided to return to Omaha, I have been asked many times what have been the highlights of our time here. I can answer that question two ways, either about our public life or about our private life.

Unquestionably our public life has been very exciting and I would find it difficult to pinpoint one highlight. We attended the state dinner celebrating the signing of the Middle East Peace Treaty, the funeral of Hubert Humphrey and the reception for Pope John Paul at the White House. I traveled with John to Belgrade, Yugoslavia for the International Monetary Fund Conference.
The high point of our private life has been the people who enriched our lives on a day-to-day basis. We have made friends we can count on and always enjoy. The friendships in the Congress. in our neighborhood and around the Washington area are genuine and long-lasting. That is reassuring because even though I am leaving Washington with a lump in my throat and an ache in my heart, I know the gap will be filled quickly as we resume our lives in Omaha. We found the old cliche, "It's the people who make the difference," applied in Washington. We've always known it applied in Omaha.

September 4, 1980