Since Beau's death, I'm definitely shattered. I feel like a piece of china that's been glued back together again. The cracks may be imperceptible-but they're there. Look closely, and you can see the glue holding me together, the precarious edges that vein through my heart. I am not the same. I feel it every day.
Marrying Joe wasn't just about him. It was about Hunter and Beau as well. They had endured the loss of one mother already, and I couldn't risk having them lose another.
It was important to me that Beau and Hunter felt our family was whole, and that meant we got to define our relationship, not anyone else.
It sounds so trite to say I make a difference, but I really feel, especially in a community college, I can make a difference.
A lot of students who are 18 or 19 go to college partly for the social aspect of it. At the community college, people's goals are a little different. Their needs are more immediate.
When students come to the community college, they're focused. They know what they want to do, and they have a certain amount of time to do it.
I guess the White House is kind of confining.
When I go to the supermarket, I can see people looking in my cart. So I have to be careful what I buy and when. I send my sister to Costco to pick up the personal items.
I have always had a great deal of respect and admiration for Eleanor Roosevelt. She was a true humanitarian and champion of Women's Rights and Civil Rights.
I had a number of part-time jobs after school in Willow Grove, but I did work for two summers in Ocean City as a waitress at Chris' Seafood Restaurant. I loved it.
I grew up in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, with my parents and sisters, but my family would drive every weekend to Hammonton, where both my grandparents lived and where my parents were raised.
I have visited classrooms near military bases to learn more about what schools were doing to support their military kids. I met with teachers overseas to learn about the particular needs they face thousands of miles from America. And I listened to my own granddaughter, who dealt with her father's yearlong deployment to Iraq.
For laid-off workers, community colleges offer job-certification programs that teach new skills and professions.
There was a little nook on Air Force Two that contained the vice presidential seal, and I would sort of wedge myself in there and grade papers on the floor.
My students have shown me so many times that it's not always about being the perfect person in the perfect position - it's about showing up when you're needed.
Back in 2008, after we'd won the election, no one really expected me to keep teaching. But I couldn't just walk away... So I did both. For eight years, that was my life's dichotomy. State receptions - and midterms. Dinner with the most powerful man on earth - and study sessions with single moms.
On the campaign trail, I have the opportunity to meet people from all walks of life - from residents at a battered women's shelter to mentally handicap children to retirees - and learn about their lives and struggles.
We need women to better reflect the social fabric of our society.
As a political spouse, I've found that my stoicism often serves me well.
We know that education is the key to unlocking human potential.
