WASHINGTON — Vice President JD Vance stood at the head of the table in the Roosevelt Room during one of the most significant moments of his life, joined by his mother, Beverly Aikins. Despite the presence of about 20 family members and friends, including his wife, Usha, and their three children, there was a brief moment when it felt like only JD and his mother existed as their eyes met and locked.

“I remember when I gave my RNC convention speech, which was the craziest thing, and I even said during the speech that we would have your 10-year medallion ceremony at the White House,” Vance said, smiling as he motioned around the historic West Wing meeting room named after two former presidents.

“Well, here we are. And you made it, and we made it. And most importantly, you’re celebrating a very, very big milestone. And I’m just very proud of you,” he said as he teared up, adding, “I’m, I’m gonna try not to cry here.”

For everyone in attendance who had traveled from Kentucky and Ohio to share this important milestone with Aikins and Vance, the word “here” wasn’t just significant because they were in the White House conference room across from the Oval Office. The word “here” also meant that Aikins had survived the addiction that had left her and her son’s life in turmoil for decades. 

Sitting to her son’s left as her two grandsons intermittently sat beside her or on her lap, she listened as he recalled her story of recovery, redemption, and hope with the watchful eye of President Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Rider portrait above him.

“When I think about everything you’ve accomplished over the last 10 years and the fact that when I was thinking about becoming a father, I didn’t know whether you would live long enough to have a relationship with my kids. And now here they are, almost 8, 5, and 3, and you’re the best grandmother that these kids could ever ask for,” he said as both son and mother’s eyes welled.

“It is really an amazing thing to watch. It is one of the great blessings of becoming a father, is that I’ve been able to see these kids develop the love and the affection for you and to see it in return. And that’s just an incredible blessing,” Vance said.

Aikins told me that just over 10 years ago, she would not have been able to enjoy her relationship with her children, nor would she have been able to do the other passion in her life, nursing, because of the debilitating addiction to alcohol, heroin, and pretty much anything else she used to get high that had consumed every aspect of her life.

Aikins’s mother, Bonnie Vance, “Mamaw” to JD Vance, was profoundly influential in her grandson’s life and helped raise JD with the help of his older sister Lindsay when Aikins could not.

Vance recalled his tumultuous childhood with the ups and downs........

© Washington Examiner