My family lived next door to the town's deputy mayor when I was a little girl. His name was Jim Palmer and he was my pal. Our age was decades apart, our ethnicity and religion couldn't have been more different, and he was a member of the opposite political party than the one the adults in my family were members of but somehow none of that mattered.

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Mr. Palmer took me under his wing and treated me as if I were one of his own granddaughters. He sent me birthday and Christmas cards well into my 20's and I still have those cards and their special notes. My family didn't gamble and I vividly remember the naughty twinkle in Mr. Palmer's eye when for my 18th birthday, he handed me a stack of scratch-off lottery tickets. Our friendship was something really special.

When Mr. Palmer went out campaigning, my parents allowed me to go with him to help put up yard signs and hand out literature even though I'm pretty sure there was absolutely no way they would be voting for him in the election.

Instead of shutting down Mr. Palmer's invitation for me to join him campaigning, my parents encouraged me to go because they knew that I would gain invaluable knowledge from the patient Mr. Palmer who allowed me to pelt him with questions. I also learned so much about people by walking door to door and chatting with neighbors.

As I matured into an adult, Mr. Palmer and I didn't always see eye to eye on political things, but we respected each other enough to agree to disagree with absolutely no animosity and even when we disagreed, we still kept communication open, picking each other's brains and learning from each other.

Mr. Palmer passed away in 2005, but I will forever carry him in my heart. I will forever be thankful for the political education he gave me and for the way he made me feel empowered that should I choose to enter the political realm, I absolutely could and should (and I did for a few years).

The reason I bring up the story of my precious Mr. Palmer is that I saw another father do the same thing my parents did - he gave his little girl the opportunity to sit down with the man who was once the leader of the free world to ask him questions.

Questions are how discussions are formed and education begins and Adam Weitsman had the connections to make the meeting between his daughter and former President Donald Trump happen and this is why he was on a plane with Mr. Trump.

You can read in Adam's own words why it was important for him to find a way for his daughter to speak with the former President.

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