Tuesday of Convention Week

As we boarded the bus to journey the 30 minutes into Cleveland on my first full day of the convention, I made a photo of my credentials and posted them on Facebook.

Ted Cruz and his campaign entered this convention with between 500-600 delegates.  If a candidate has a certain number of delegate votes, he or she will have his or her name placed into consideration for the nomination and will have to make a speech, ostensibly to win the nomination, whether a competitor already has enough votes to lock up the nomination or not.  The Cruz campaign did not want him to have to speak on Tuesday night at the convention.  They knew he had a slot to deliver a speech on Wednesday night, and they did not want a Tuesday night speech to overshadow the later one.  (In retrospect, I don't think anything could have overshadowed Ted's Wednesday night speech...). So, during the roll call of states, in which each state delegation announced the votes of its delegates, some of Ted Cruz's votes were converted to Trump votes.  Again, this was at the request of the Cruz campaign and demonstrated tremendous deference to the Trump campaign.

I enjoyed watching each state delegation announce its votes.  Each state crowed about its special accomplishments and features.  It was wonderful to get this small picture of each of the 50 beautiful states and few territories (American Samoa, anyone?) which are represented here at the GOP Convention.

What I did not enjoy as much was the protestors.  While they never harassed me to the point I felt afraid, we did attend on Tuesday a pro-life luncheon that was picketed by pro-abortion protestors.  One of them was carrying a large sign with a uterus on it.  Many of them were screaming at us as we walked into the security checkpoint.
I also came into close contact with the infamous Westboro Baptist Church protestors.  Sad, just very sad, and like no Baptists I've ever known.  Assuredly, they do not represent this Baptist's beliefs or tactics.
The area surrounding the Quicken Arena in downtown has been flooded with law enforcement of all types, from many municipalities and states - - ICE, highway patrol, Cleveland police, Michigan police, policemen on horses, policemen on scooters, secret service....It has been a dizzying array.  Needless to say, we have felt very protected.  All with convention access were given a clear plastic tote in which to carry personal items.  These were checked by law enforcement every time we entered the Quicken Arena, where the convention was held.  Inside the arena, access to each area was controlled.  For all the sessions I attended, I sat in the section designated for alternate delegates.  These were great seats, at the very front of the center balcony.

One of the most fun things was experiencing the excitement in the arena.  Famous faces were everywhere.  I ran into some of the members of my state's delegation (I was with a neighboring state's  delegation), plus saw George Stephanopolous, Greta Van Susteren, the Trump children (Trump himself - - more on that later), Nikki Haley, Herman Cain, Lou Holtz, Phyllis Schlafly, Nick Loeb,  (TV celebrity who sat at our lunch table Tuesday) Ted and Heidi Cruz, to name a few, "close-up".

A celebrity to me is my relatively new friend, @TeriGRight, whom I ran into at the Cruz event on Wednesday, plus my old, old friend Terry H., whom I had not seen in more than 40 years!  Terry lives in the East Cleveland area and saw the picture of my convention credentials on Facebook.  He suggested that he, his wife and I have dinner Tuesday night.  We had a very late-night dinner at Denny's.  It was GREAT to see him, to meet his wife, Julie, and to catch up on more than 40 years, with a thankful heart for how all of us have been richly blessed by the Lord!