You are Going to be Rich...FILTHY RICH!!!

Dear Baby Waider,

Snowbama

This may be extremely hard to believe, but your mom and dad did actually have a life before we had you! Something that we were really involved in was politics. I'll take you back to 2008. It was an amazing year. Fortunately the reign of George W. Bush was over. The Dems had two very exciting candidates running for the presidential nomination. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were both exciting candidates, but your dad (after I got him to come around) and I were part of the Barack Obama hysteria. He was the first candidate that we ever got really excited about. I obviously didn't have much going on at that time because I used to spend HOURS on politics. Anyway, it was either the very end of April or the beginning of May. I actually think it was April 30th. We had a snow storm. A big one. I had even more time to obsess about politics so I began to stress out about the North Carolina Primary. Sources were pretty certain that Hillary Clinton was going to win North Carolina edging more towards Hilary being the nominee. Obviously I didn't want that, but really, what could I do in the middle of a blizzard in Western South Dakota? Well, as you will soon discover your mom is resourceful with a capitol R. I came up with the master plan that your dad and I were going to make a GIANT Obama snow sculpture. Keep in mind this was something like the 6th blizzard we had that year so we weren't excited about shoveling, but it needed to be done. And we both agreed that a snow sculpture would at the very least give us something to do.

We began shoveling out the massive drift that forms directly in front of our garage. According to your dad HE did all the shoveling, but I'm pretty sure I was a big help. We put the snow in a giant pile. We traced out some letters and carved out the world's largest yard sign. It. Was. Awesome. The whole time we were carving it out we were talking about how awesome it would be if 1. he won North Carolina. 2. Obama got to see our snow tribute to him.

One of those things actually happened. And...Obama lost North Carolina...

South Dakota Democratic Primary


Let me give you a little background on South Dakota politics.We are what is called a RED state, meaning that not many people who vote like mom and dad live here. Not only that, but because we live in a state with a pretty small population we really don't matter in primaries, let alone the Democratic primary. Until May 2008. Clinton and Obama had raced all the way until May. Typically races are long determined by the time South Dakota has their primary. Again, until May 2008. When candidates are trying to win primaries they come to the state and give LOTS of speeches. Both Bill and Hillary Clinton came to Rapid City. We were fortunate enough to get both of their autographs. Kind of a big deal, but that was nothing compared to the real thrill. We heard the word that Barack Obama was coming to Rapid City. People who volunteered for the campaign were going to get tickets to get tickets for the event. It was really confusing. Anyway, your dad was teaching summer school so I volunteered (I think with Auntie Katie!) YES! we drove people to the polls and reminded them to vote. I got my ticket and so did she and we were able to get tickets to the event.

Even in Rapid City lots of people hoped to see Barack Obama! The next obstacle we had to face was getting a FRONT seat at the speech. This would require that we were in line early for the event. We got there at 5:00AM. I had printed a picture of the sculpture that we built. Your dad and I were there as was your grandpa Halter, Auntie Katie, Uncle Rob, and I think the Webers. We were second in line. Things were looking good. And they were good. We got right in and right into the front row. It was excellent. While we waited I chatted it up with the Secret Service guy. Lots of times they are not very friendly, but he was super nice. I told him about the picture and his only comment was, "He's going to want to see that.That is awesome." That made me even more excited.

We sat through the speech. We were inspired, excited, and hopeful. Back then it seemed like things were going to get better than they had been for several years...It was a hopeful time.

That being said once the speech was over my new BFF, the Secret Service guy, brought Obama down to me so that I could tell him about my picture. So here I was, this teacher from South Dakota, and this amazing candidate for PRESIDENT was listening to me tell him about my snow carving I made of his name. And he listened!! And he liked the story. I wanted to take a picture of him, but I was just too star struck. His comments were that it was pretty cool, and that he's never had his name carved in snow before. It was a pretty special moment. Definitely something I will never forget. He then told me to write my name on it and that he would sign the picture for me.

Sign it he did. And from that moment on it has always been our hope that we could take the autographed picture to one of my favorite shows, the Antiques Roadshow! I wanted to tell them my story and hopefully make it on the show so that they could tell me about my prized autograph.

The Antiques Roadshow

I have been watching the Antiques Roadshow since it first came out in the 90's. I love pretty much everything about it. I love the treasures people bring in and the stuff that people think are of value when they are replicas or fakes. I started watching it with your grandpa Halter when I was younger, but your dad has faithfully watched pretty much every single episode with me since 2003. I don't ever like to miss an episode so it was sort of a deal. If you are with me, you are watching the roadshow.

So I'll have to admit that I was super thrilled to find out that the Roadshow was coming to Rapid City. I immediately signed up, as did your dad and pretty much all of the family members. Devastatingly we did not get tickets. :( I was really bummed. It was a lifelong dream. Shattered. Naturally I complained on Facebook because, why not? I was bummed out!! Luckily my sadness did not fall on deaf ears. I received a message from your Auntie Katie's former teacher and my current Facebook friend Leona Schroeder. She told me that she got roadshow tickets, but was unable to use them. She also wondered if I might like them. YES! was my answer.

The Roadshow was a cool experience. We met a man who thought he might have a Picasso painting and traveled all the way from Alabama to see if it was real. We also talked to people who had been trying to get tickets for the past 10 years. I suddenly began to realize just how lucky I was to be there and just how fortunate I was for Leona Schroeder.

As a side note you were 9 months old when we went to the Roadshow. This was the first time that we left you with someone other than grandma and grandpa AND the first time we had a sitter come to our house. It was Kayla, who helps grandma, but still I was prepared for you to be devastated that we were leaving you. After all we had spent all summer so far together. I was pretty sure you were going to be really sad we were leaving. You weren't. You were thrilled to see Kayla. When she left...you cried. Anyway it was good to know that you liked your babysitter!

So we waited in line to have our items appraised. Because this is getting entirely too long and I need to go to bed I will only tell you about the Obama picture. First I talked to an appraiser in photographs. The lady LOVED the picture, showed another appraiser and we chatted it up about it. Then she sent me to an appraiser that I am quite familiar with. He does books and manuscripts and his name is Ken Sanders.

He heard my story and of course LOVED IT!!! What it boiled down to was this.

1. The story was cool.
2. The autograph as it stands right now is worth $1,000
3. The more time passes the more it will be worth. (This is mostly due to the fact that it is personalized and clearly has a story with it.)
4. This autograph will be worth an undetermined amount, but beings that he is the first African American President and it is personalized the value is going to be high.
5. It was cool enough to show to 4 appraisers, however, it was not cool enough to get me on the show. :(

So there you have it. You are going to be filthy rich. Easy as that.

As we left we ran smack dab into the host of Antiques Roadshow, Mark Walberg. He was super nice also, gave me a hug, and signed the back of our Obama picture to complete the entire circle. It was awesome! He thought that it might reduce the value of the picture, but I completely disagree, mostly because it was on the back of the matting, but also because it is part of the story.

Wow, rereading through this story two things are apparent. 1. I might be nuts. 2. Your dad goes along with most of my nuts ideas. That makes us pretty lucky girls, and that makes for some major fun for all of us. Until our next adventure...

Love,

Your mama