I wrote these words for my adult children, Diane, Susan, John, Andy and Brian, and with their permission share them with you.

I stayed up watching until 2:15am to hear Trump’s speech – which was surprisingly mild and included words of gratitude for Hillary Clinton’s years of hard work and service to our country. I have voted in every election since Kennedy – Nixon in 1960 and have been elated – Johnson’s defeat of Goldwater, Barack Obama (twice!) – and devastated – George W. (twice) and last night. This one is different because Trump has the potential to do very real harm to our nation and our culture. In fact, he has already tapped into something dark – misogyny, racism, vulgarity, meanness. It took me several hours to fall asleep and my thoughts continued to focus on you and your children. The most heart breaking part of the long evening was to be beside Sue who has been a loyal, unswerving Hillary supporter for years. She gave up around 1:00am and said through tears, “I’ll never see a woman president.” A lot of us share that sentiment.

So – what now?

It is more important, essential in fact, that you and every American like you, hang on for dear life to precious values that have made us proud of our nation in the past: compassion and concern for the poor, marginal, discriminated against, oppressed: generosity, responsibility in world affairs for the vast power and influence we have: and, above all, justice and the continuing difficult struggle – more difficult this morning than ever – to be true to the more than two centuries commitment implied by that phrase that still stirs me every time I say it, “with liberty and justice for all.”

Please, please do not despair and give up hope. Your values and the values I have watched, with such admiration and pride, you plant in your children, are at the core of our nation at its best. I am comforted this morning simply by thinking of you five and Rick, Steve, Nancy, Mary, Jillian, and the following beautiful litany: Caitlin, Cameron and Brianna, Carolyn, Alex, Nick, Rachel, Johnny, Eleanor, Kate, Ella, Lilly, Fiona, Eliza. With all my heart I believe those people and those values will prevail ultimately.

For my own comfort this morning I pulled from the shelf a very wise book, The Cycles of American History, by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. He was an historian, American History professor, liberal intellectual from New York, at the heart of the Kennedy administration. His book traces the swings and sometimes lurches back and forth down through our entire history as a nation and he concludes that a swing too far in one direction will be corrected in the future. i.e. this too shall pass.

So, my dears, do not lose heart, keep the faith, fight hard, speak up, support and work for the good, and keep investing your very best in your children who, like mine, are the guarantee that all, finally, shall be well.