Romney McDaniel: Mitt accepts nomination; a special night for the Romney family

At 10 am in the Marriott Ballroom 140 Romney/Davies family members gathered for a Tampa family reunion. What brought us each here was our desire to share in this moment with Ann and Mitt. Mitt was not going to make it today because he was about to deliver the biggest speech of his life and he needed to prepare. Ann was there, all the boys and most of the 18 grandkids ran around the room happy to be set loose. On a large screen, a slideshow of our family played. As we were all chatting and catching up on how many kids we had, how our families and jobs were, Mitt came in the room. He was mobbed. Everyone flocked to him to get pictures and introduce their children to him. He made sure every picture was snapped, every piece of memorabilia was signed and every introduction made. I stood back. I had seen him just last week in Michigan. Not surprisingly, he found his way to our table and hugged me. He and Ann spoke, thanking us all for coming and then Mitt politely excused himself to put the finishing touches on his speech.

I saw him again that evening in an entirely different setting. I saw him through the eyes of those he had worked with, served with and those he had served. There were stories I had never heard before. I saw pictures and video of my grandfather, George Romney. It was an extremely emotional night. When Mitt spoke, I had the honor of sitting in the front row of the Michigan Delegation. His speech was the highlight of the convention. I especially loved when he talked about how our nation’s monuments to our heroes never mention that person’s race, gender, religion or income. He spoke of his ability to return jobs to our country and help the middle class. Time after time we were rising off our chairs to cheer. At some point I just kept standing. Towards the end my husband sent me a text that read “He is going to win.” to which I replied “If he wins, our country wins.”