I can't believe I didn't blog at all from Denver, except I did, on that other blog -- and in War Room, and I think I wrote a story, too. I can't remember, it's all a blur, but a great blur. You read about the Salon party thanks to marytkelly and my old friend Dave Cullen. They both wrote about the best part of the convention for me: Having my daughter Nora with me, on the eve of her going off to college.

I can get jaded about my awesome job and events like the Democratic convention (my fourth) can seem like work to me; having her with me made me remember how lucky I am. Everything was exciting to her -- especially getting several Salon photo credits for covering the police arresting a young anarchist, and a PUMA demonstration behind Hardball on Monday. Of course, this convention was particularly great -- it started out feeling so fractured, and then day by day, the party came together. I was thrilled with both Clinton speeches -- I seem to be in a minority, but I didn't expect anything different, they're skilled politicians and ardent Democrats -- and Obama's "surprise" appearance at the Pepsi Center was the highlight for me.

At least partly because Nora and I jumped in the car afterwards, and I drove her to the airport, to catch a redeye to New York by herself to start school. She applied to be part of a community service immersion program a few days before the rest of the freshman arrived, and she was accepted, so it meant she had to travel by herself, and miss Obama's speech. I felt terrible, but she was fine with it; she's been on her own in New York for the last three days, and I'm joining her today, for the official Move-in Day, even though she already moved herself in.

It seems strangely symbolic, and perfect, to me: She's already moved in, moved on, we just need a day to mark the passage. She's always been amazingly resilient and self-sufficient. I get way more praise than I deserve for raising her and doing this job at the same time -- she made it easy for me. We never had that period of mother-daughter fighting that's supposed to be nature's way of helping us separate, so this is hard for me. But having her on her own in New York for the weekend, texting me about the Obama speech, keeping me up on all of her adventures, has made it easier. Nora will be fine, and so will I. I'm hoping she'll post all her convention photos on Open, but she's got a lot to do.