I hugged Joe Biden. Twice. He was in St. Louis last month for his book tour Promise Me, Dad, and my daughter and I got to speak with him for about two minutes and get our picture taken. It is fantastic of her and Joe and awful of me, but it still will be placed on my dresser next to the pictures of my kids, husband and best friends. Yes, I am a Joe Biden fangirl.

Before you start to email me that I must be insane to embrace his politics or I shouldn’t talk about politics in this type of publication, there are a few things you should know. First, I was never told I couldn’t write about politics, so if this gets me fired, as Justin Timberlake would say, “bye, bye, bye.” And I have always been a liberal—never closeted. I read a ton, understand issues and policies, and am not influenced just by what the party says. I am respectful of other people’s opinions. Public discourse works when it is done thoughtfully and without name calling. Friends should be able to disagree about politics without it ruining their friendships.

Now back to Joe. No one should make fun of Joe around me. He is on a very short list that includes my son and daughter. I hope you notice that means you can make fun of my husband and all of my siblings. I know it’s weird to include a former vice president on this list, especially someone who I only spent two minutes with and was so overwhelmed, I hugged him twice. Fortunately, I don’t think he has Secret Service protection anymore, so I was not hustled across the street to the police department.

So, what is it about Joe Biden? Joe is a decent and kind man who has lost so much in his life. He lost his wife and young daughter in a car accident when he was just 29 years old, leaving him to raise his two sons on his own for five years, and more recently, his 46-year-old son lost his battle with brain cancer. I can’t imagine. Yet, I can. There is a small club of parents who I think of as the ‘almosts.’ Several years ago, in the middle of the night, I got a call asking if I was the mother of my son. It was a hospital in Phoenix. My son had been in a car accident and was on a ventilator with severe brain injuries. They asked how soon I could get there. I will not get into the details out of respect for my son, but that accident changed me and my family forever. I almost lost my little boy; he was 21 at the time, so I guess he wasn’t so little. I didn’t because of some great physicians and his strong desire to live. But there is not a day that goes by that I don’t say a little thank you to the world for letting me keep him.

It astounds me that Joe Biden can get out of bed in the morning after burying two children and his wife. I know how hard things were for me in the aftermath of my son’s accident. But he does it because he believes so strongly that he can make a difference in a country that he loves. Joe might not be a man you would vote for, but he is a kind and decent man who provides much comfort to the ‘almosts’ and those who have lost children. And because of that, he will remain on my list with my kids.

Contact Patty at phannum@townandstyle.com.