Yesterday my mother called me up in the middle of the day. She’s been taking nursing classes with my sister through Glendale Community College and her usual class days are Friday and Saturday. Although she’s semi-retired, she’s still looking for a career. My mother called me as she was on her way home from class to remind me that there was a meeting of a new Democratic club in Surprise on Saturday afternoon. I had told her that I would attend the meeting with her, but at that point given that it was 150-degrees outside and about 78 inside (which seems warm every season except for Summer), I wasn’t too keen about going outside.

But I got up and went to the meeting. My mom was intent on being a part of the board for the new group and really wanted me there so that I could nominate her. Being the good son that I was, I went to support her.

I wasn’t too thrilled to be going to the meeting. It was being organized by the Maricopa County Democratic organization, the legislative district 4 and 12 clubs (Surprise is split by both legislative districts, or LD’s), and the Sun City Grand Democrats. Back in my previous run for office (that’s another story for another post), I was hesitant to get involved, but my mother needed my support, so being the good son I went.

The meeting was held over at the Heard Museum’s west-side extension, in a classroom that they have available for rent. When I got there, my mother and I were the only ones in attendance. One of the meeting organizers said that they weren’t expecting a whole lot of people, but would be ecstatic if ten people showed up. 1:00pm came rolling around and the attendance still wasn’t so impressive, but around 1:10pm, there were somewhere between 15 to 20 people, I believe.

The meeting went well for an organizing meeting. Any my mother became secretary of the club, which she wanted to be. She didn’t need me to be there, because the position was pretty much for her to take. They were handing out the spots to anyone that wanted to fill them.

For me, it was a valuable experience that I am rather glad that I attended, because it made me face and put aside grudges that I had built from my negative experiences as a candidate. The meeting also made me realize that this could be a forum for me to start to get involved once again, in building something locally that I can use if I decide to try to run for office again (which again is a completely different story).

I was smart, however, when they were handing out assignments. As much as I thought about getting involved, I do know my current limits right now. I have too much to take on yet another assignment. However, I did volunteer my skills as a software developer to build and manage the web site for the club. So I can at the minimum do that.

So there it is, the Surprise Democratic Club or Surprise-West Valley Democratic Club is now organized and underway. If you live in Surprise, AZ, or one of the neighboring cities, please feel free to attend. I’ll be posting the new web site and meeting information as soon as I know where those will be located.