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88-year-old gets her lifelong wish: shadowing a congressman
Some people want to travel the world, others have their heart set on shaking hands with a rock star — and then there’s 88-year-old Margaret Lapolla, whose one wish was to get a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the life of a member of Congress.
Earlier this month, the Florida resident fulfilled her lifelong dream by shadowing Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) for a day as a guest of the Wish of a Lifetime Foundation, which pays the costs of granting wishes for seniors, reports the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. The average age of wish recipients is 82, which is 22 years older than the average age of an American senator.
A political junkie, Lapolla’s trip to the Capitol included sitting in during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, walking on the House floor, attending a meeting with Deutch and eating lunch with the congressman in the members-only dining room.
Deutch said to the Sun-Sentinel he was struck by Lapolla’s desire to spend her one wish in Washington, “especially given the way people feel about Congress these days.” Congress’s approval rating hit an all-time low of just 10 percent according to an August Gallup poll.
But Lapolla explains that, for her, it was the experience of a lifetime. “I wanted to see what those politicians do all day long. Not because I’m nosy. I just wondered. I didn’t want to just shake hands with someone.”
