Proof of Life

("Wait. Is that Hillary Clinton? Let's go say Hi")

Mark Twain. Paul McCartney and now Hillary Clinton. Reports of their deaths all greatly exaggerated.

In the early morning (mourning) hours of November 9, we wondered how we would survive the night. After the Thrilla in Manila, Muhammad Ali informed us that his battle with Joe Frazier was the closest thing to dying he had ever known. For many of us, metaphorically this felt just as close. And we all presumed that for Hillary Clinton, it was not only her political epitaph, but her personal one as well.

We thought that if she somehow survived she would surely become a Howard Hughes recluse. There would be false reports of her sightings every few years. We would never have incontrovertible proof of life, just a partial image or a message that could not possibly be verified. Even if she somehow persevered, she would spend this darkest of all her winters in deep hibernation.

But, she actually took a walk OUTSIDE even before we could muster the energy to do so. And we are told she is taking regular sustenance, doing grandmotherly activities, and most incredibly  I don't know how say this gently, attending HIS inauguration.

Wherever Hillary Clinton ventures these days, she is treated with a reverence she was never able to fully attain during the long, often torturous slog that has been the last quarter century of her life in the spotlight. Always looked upon with suspicion, always a little too cold, a little too remote and a lot too cautious with every word uttered for us to find the Ali in her.

But with this cataclysmic defeat, and her ability to rise up from the canvas so quickly, Hillary has shown all her remarkable resolve. She has been hit with the mother of all haymakers and yet here she is, come take a look.

Surely, the applause will soon die down and images of Hillary Clinton being part of the fabric of our country, will draw less and less attention. But for today she is a celebrity, cherished  for giving us permission to move forward. She is not dead, and if this didn't kill her, it surely shouldn't kill us.