And the Winner Is...

I put Mason to bed last night around seven thirty and sat down, idly scrapbooking but with my eyes glued to CNN. I nervously chewed on my fingernails as I watched McCain take the lead in the beginning, and then I got cocky, text messaging my (McCain supporting) dad that it was a done deal around ten thirty as Obama pulled drastically and irrevocably ahead. At eleven o'clock, they called the election in favor of Obama the second the west coast's polls were closed.

It's true that Barack Obama made history last night in becoming the first black president of the United States, but he also made history because he was able to connect with millions and millions of people in one of the toughest times our country has ever had. I don't think that the same feeling of being united would have been possible if John McCain would have won. I've never even really felt anything you could call patriotism until now. Obama somehow offers hope where there is none and gives us reason to believe that things will get better and that our children will be safe and taken care of. I'm now able to rest knowing that I have a president who won't support a war that could have my baby drafted someday, who won't stuff my child into a one-size-fits-all box of teaching to the test education, and who will make sure we all are able to have the medical care we need.

I watched John McCain give a concession speech so humbling that it made me tear up. I loved how, after months and months of ads attacking Barack Obama, he silenced his crowd when they began to boo. I waited for Obama's speech - I couldn't wait to hear what he had to say - but of course, Mason chose that minute to wake up. I gave up and went to bed with him, so we watched the speech this morning. It was very JFK-esque, something that I'm sure will be in the history books and that kids in junior high will have to memorize someday. Of course I cried thinking about a twelve-year-old Mason learning about this monumental election in school and how I'll be able to tell him he was there and watched it all happen.

"This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time – to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth – that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes we can."
-President Barack Obama