We Were Sad But Now We're Rebuilding

OK, I know, I know...keeping up with my blog = EPIC FAIL

I'm sorry.

But it seems like every Joe Sixpack and Jane Winebox is putting in their two cents about the election, so I thought I'd do the same. (On a side note, Joe & Jane kind of remind me of those joke book titles that I heard as a kid, in Boys' Life and Highlights...You Can Be A Millionaire by Rob A. Bank, How To Skydive by Hugo First...I'm A Real American by Joe Siskpak. But I digress.)

I had always been an Obama supporter, though for the most part I didn't have anything against McCain. Until Sarah Palin showed up on the scene. (On another side note, while I thoroughly enjoyed Tina Fey's impersonations, I'm very much relieved that we won't need her to do it again.)



The night before the election, I was so keyed up that I had trouble falling asleep. When I did, I dreamt that McCain won the election in an upset, and there was footage on CNN of Sarah Palin laughing maniacally. I woke up, panicked, and shook Ben awake.

"Hey!"

"ajaklrng...."

"HEY!"

"...what?"

"What day is it?"

"um, Tuesday...."

"OK, wait...is Tuesday just starting or has it ended?"

"What?"

"Who won the election?"

"...what?"

"Who won the election??"

"It's 4 in the morning...the polls aren't even open yet...."

"Oh, ok. Sorry. Go back to sleep."


I awoke for the second time a few hours later, ready for the day to start. But since I had to wait for the polls to start closing before I could get any results, I spent most of the day job hunting on the computer. At 4, Ben and I left for the Obama Campaign for Change centre in Birmingham (MI, that is) to help canvass the neighbourhood. We spent the better part of 3 hours knocking on doors - with a quick break for dinner at Olga's - following up with supporters to see if they had voted yet. Quite a few people weren't home, and if Ben hadn't been with me, and if it hadn't been in Birmingham, I would have been very nervous with the sudden onset of darkness and utter lack of streetlights. But the evening passed uneventfully (though we did see roughly 258905 cats wandering the streets, and I briefly toyed with the idea of switching lawn signs and giving a McCain supporter an Obama sign, giving the Obama supporter one of each) and we went back home to wait for some incoming results. We started watching ABC (because I loooooove George Stephanopoulous - and I apologize if I butchered the spelling) and became increasingly excited as Obama's numbers grew. At 10 we switched over to Comedy Central for their special with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. It was funny, though somewhat disappointing as they were giving results we had already heard on ABC (I ended up going to abc.com and obsessively refreshing the page). Then Jon Stewart said those unforgettable words:

"As of 11:00 PM, Eastern Standard Time, the next President of the United States will be Barack Obama."

I started jumping up and down and hugged Ben. Jack, thinking it was a game, tried to squeeze in between us and then started chasing his tail in a bizzarre victory dance.

The rest of the night will live forever in my memory. I gave Jack a celebratory cooky that I had bought from a dog bakery at Great Lakes Crossing Mall, talked on the phone with Spenser during McCain's concession speech (which, I must say...I feel sorry for him. I know, I know, he's a Republican, he supported the war, blah blah blah...I still feel sorry for him and wish him the best. Sarah Palin can go kiss a moose.), and then listened with rapt attention to Obama's victory speech and wished so much that we were in Grant Park. Obama gives me a sense of hope and optimism that has been rare for me since I have been out of a full-time job. I know he has a long uphill climb in front of him, but I believe he can draw America together so we can help eachother get out of this mess we've been swamped in.
And I know one thing's for sure - come January 20th, I have *every* intention of being in Washington DC.