Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D)officially is Gabrielle Giffords, following her resignation from Congress in January 2012. But during the Democratic Convention this week, I saw her as the stateswoman she is. She was afire onstage where she recited the Pledge of Allegiance. But it was later, in the crowd, she was grace.

Seeing her wasn’t easy because she was almost swallowed by the crowd in the stands around her but cameras panned near her a few times during President Barack Obama’s acceptance speech. Seeing her husband, retired NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, was easier because he is larger, though he stayed in a wing-man position; close enough to help, far enough to let her be.

And she IS. Reports indicate that asking questions remains difficult for her to do as she fights to recover  from a gunshot to her head Jan. 8, 2011 near Tucson, AZ. I can’t fathom how hard that must be for a woman who is curious to the bone.

And yet, standing in a place top-heavy with elected politicians,  applauding and smiling and applauding again, She IS leadership and she IS America.