Congresswoman Giffords Leaves Hospital with Husband, Headed for Houston Rehab

Friday, January 21, 2011

Congresswoman Giffords Leaves Hospital with Husband, Headed for Houston Rehab

Giffords' ambulance departing
the Hospital for
the trip to Houston

It was a joy to see the footage yesterday of Congresswoman Giffords venturing outside for the first time in two weeks. It was an even greater joy today when she left the Tucson hospital ICU to begin her recovery and rehabilitation. I hope the photo gallery link at the end will bring a smile to our Penigma readers.

This was in my email, and I share the sentiments, It's nice to know that with all the attention being given to the gentle Congreswwoman and her superhero astronaut husband, that those in her office who are her support staff in Arizona also received a little attention. I imagine living and working in the Tucson area will never be quite the same, and more so for Giffords staff than most.:

I'm Julie, and I work with the local MoveOn Council in Tucson, Arizona and I wanted to tell you about a moving event we held this past Tuesday.

Normally, local MoveOn councils organize rallies, district meetings, and other grassroots events. But this Tuesday we were doing something very different. We had the honor of delivering the thoughts, feelings, well wishes, hopes, and prayers of thousands of MoveOn members nationwide to our Congresswoman.

In the days since the tragic events of January 8th, MoveOn members like you showed their support and well wishes with a get well card for the Congresswoman. There were more than 140,000 messages—enough to fill three LARGE three ring binders. We presented these to the Congresswoman's staff along with a heartfelt message of thanks and support for all of their service and dedication.

Let me assure you, there was not a dry eye in the office at the end of our meeting.
Many of our council members have gotten to know Rep. Giffords and her staff through our efforts to get out the vote and our work on issues such as health care reform. We have always been impressed with the enthusiasm, openness and dedication shown by the Congresswoman's office and were not at all surprised to find staffers hard at work, serving their constituents as always.

This in turn has inspired our Council members. We know that even in times of reflection and sorrow, our best hopes can be realized if we continue to work for change and look toward the future. We must, as always, counter the tides of negative rhetoric with fact, reason, love, hope, and dignity.