Thank you, Ann.

In November 1990, I was 14 years old. That's too young to vote, but for a girl who had talked politics with her parents from the age of 4 (the 1980 presidential elections, when my father informed me that we wanted Reagan to win because "Republicans are better") it was definitely old enough to care about elections. It was a fascinating election season for Texas, featuring Republican Clayton "relax and enjoy it" Williams and Democrat Ann "silver foot in his mouth" Richards.

On Election Night, my mother took us to La Zona Rosa, then still a bar with food, to watch the returns come in with other Austin women. It was thrilling to watch this funny, smart, white-haired lady take the lead, and we soon headed down to the Town Lake Hyatt to see her give her victory speech. It was exciting and packed with awesome Texas women, and I was so very, very happy that we'd moved to Austin a year earlier, where I could see this happening.

In 1994 I cast my first vote for her; she lost to George W. Bush in part because her campaign didn't take him seriously enough. Little did I know I'd be voting against Bush for another ten years back when Democrats had a monopoly on Texas state office and our budget had a huge surplus.

Ann Richards is a true Texas heroine. Her politics and her life resonate with me on so many levels, and I gasped when I awoke to the headlines this morning. I wish I were in Austin today to properly celebrate and mourn, and I hope those of you who are there will do so for me.