gratitude-a-thon day 191: bill clinton’s superpower

Hey, this is a great article. It’s about the secret behind Bill Clinton’s success.  It’s well worth a read.

I can comment on number two. I was pregnant with Jake. We’d just arrived at the Vineyard. Peter and I were waiting for my cousins to arrive, so we went down to the beach to wait. There were just a couple people on the beach. We got up to take a walk, but it was short, because the winter had churned up too many rocks and my pregnant bare feet couldn’t deal. So, we turned around and all the people on the beach were in the parking lot (just behind the beach). “What’s going on?” we asked someone. “President Clinton just came through to visit a friend.” There are all sorts of funny little roads on the Vineyard, and this one went through the parking lot. Peter and I were big Bill fans and I was particularly upset to have missed this event. So, I sat my big ass and belly in that parking lot to wait for Bill and his entourage to come back through the parking lot. It was fun and actually became somewhat of a party. Word spread somehow and before we knew it, the parking lot was full of people coming from all over the place to catch a glimpse of the pre-scandal prez. We were checked out by secret service guys in short sleeved shirts, and sandals with socks. It was actually hours, but finally, Bill came down the dirt road and stopped smack in the parking lot to greet us. I got my chance to shake his hand and somehow felt it important to tell him that I had surgery the night of his primary win that allowed me to get pregnant. He gave me a big smile and looked at me with such sincerity, I felt like I was the absolute only person in the world. He really did have that magic. It was real.  My husband felt it too. We had been touched (turns out a little later an intern named Monica had been, too).

We might not all be able to develop that kind of focus on someone else, but we can all listen better. I for one, always try to (that is, when I can stop talking).