Much will be written and debated about Senator Clinton's quest for the Oval Office, but mere words will almost always fail to capture what the scrappy girl from Scranton - who is known just as 'Hillary' to those of us who love her - meant to so many. In a season filled with the mantra of hope, she owned that mantle for millions.

I heard the stories of elderly voters who climbed stairs in Florida - no easy feat for most of them - to proudly cast a vote for the Senator from New York who, quite appropriately, Cyndi Lauper recently compared to Eleanor Roosevelt in her own blog entry. And I saw the beam of pride that came across my mother's face every time Hillary dared to take on - and again and again beat - the "big boys" who thought they owned the game. Every time I talked to my mom, she'd always ask, "Has Hillary wrapped this thing up yet?" And I was looking forward to the day when I could simply say "yes."

Some have posited that Clinton's candidacy appealed to many LGBT voters because she is a strong woman who has overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles. And there's something to that, too. Every time someone told Hillary she shouldn't be in the game, she suited up, went on the field, and scored a touchdown for us all. When men heckled her to "iron my shirt," her energy got sizzling hot, and she showed them which house this woman was made for (a white one, but without the picket fence). And every time someone said, "You can't go there," she stood tall, walked right through the door and said, "Yes, I can."

Indeed, Hillary Clinton opened countless doors for us all. And she wasn't just "likeable enough." She was pure radiance, and we are all the better for having basked in the warmth of her glow.

In her 1993 inaugural poem for President Bill Clinton, Dr. Maya Angelou reminded us all that, no matter where we find ourselves at any given moment, "The horizon leans forward, offering you the space to place new steps of change."

Hillary Rodham Clinton has already walked the path of history and changed the landscape for us all. And there will be new, history-making horizons dawning before her soon. When that happens, I'll gladly go wherever she leads.

Hillary is still my heroine. She's still my girl.