Washington ? Nancy Reagan saw her life flash before her eyes — and couldn’t believe she’s been that busy.

At a black-tie dinner Wednesday night raising $2.5 million for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, leaders of both parties and other dignitaries celebrated the former first lady for her accomplishments.

The memories flooded back as a video presentation showed images from her many roles — actress, wife, mother, first lady of California and later the nation.

Mrs. Reagan cracked, “It’s hard to believe that I really did all that.”

In speech and song, those at the dinner just said yes to Nancy Reagan, celebrating her stoic grace in her husband’s final years, her drive against drugs, her fashion sense, even her fixer-upper skills at the White House. The celebration took place in the massive federal building named after her husband.

Mrs. Reagan, back in the capital for her first major event since President Reagan’s funeral in June, drank in the appreciation. Noting that it came from Republicans and Democrats, she told the 575 guests, “Perhaps we should do this more often.”

Dressed in a sparkling white gown with rhinestone belt and pearl choker, she said that 11 months after her husband died she was still “overwhelmed and moved by all the kindness and concern from people all over the world.”

Vice President Dick Cheney compared Mrs. Reagan with another first lady, Jackie Kennedy, in ushering in an era of elegance and renewal in the White House. “In that era our national confidence was revived, our faith in the presidency was renewed, and the White House itself never looked better,” he said.

Nancy Reagan

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada recalled the bond between the Reagans, saying the president’s love of country was obvious to all but that the love for his wife was stronger still.

And Reid praised her for her “Just Say No” campaign against drug use by youth, as well as for her work to advance research into the Alzheimer’s disease that claimed her husband’s mind.