Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Tears of Joy

The day was Tuesday November 4, 2008. The past twenty four hours have been some of the most exciting of my life. To say that history was made, that positive energy is free flowing, that a better day is ahead for this country would be a sore understatement. I want to commemorate my day because it will likely go down in the history of my life as one of the single most excellent days ever.

6:30 AM -- Wake up an hour early due to sheer excitement and kiss Matt bye. It’s Election Day! Start smiling.

7:30 AM -- Finish writing two blogs that would usually take me an entire cup of coffee to complete. Spend some time chatting in Etsy forums and checking out blogs to network with some really fine people. Do not stop smiling even though it is first thing in the morning.

9:00 AM -- Grab my cell phone to text Matt “I am counting the hours until tonight!”. Receive text back “Tick tock the bush has been cut down”. Smile even bigger than before.

11:00 AM -- Make an amazing blueberry and raspberry smoothie, put on iTunes and begin cutting fabric for some new clutches. Dance around my apartment singing and smiling. Pop outside for a cigarette and notice not only is it in the mid sixties but there is no wind although the leaves are rustling, the sky is crystal clear blue and the yellow leaves have a different glow than usual. Realize that the positive energy is not only in my own apartment but is taking shape everywhere. Smile knowing that in about twelve short hours Obama will become President-elect.

3:00 PM -- Wrap up sewing and get ready for Matt to get home. Consider taking up nail biting as a hobby but realize getting my fingernail into my mouth means I would have to stop smiling.

4:22 PM -- Matt gets home and I stick two fingers in the air like I scored the winning touchdown proclaiming “Its time to go vote!”. Of course my smile is growing into an open mouth emoticon at this point.

4:52 PM -- Pick up my Mom and carpool to the school we all vote at. Begin to get nervous that I have no idea what I am doing since it has been so long but I give my name and street address, take my voting ballot sheet, step into the corner of a booth sectioned for four people and pick up the felt tipped marker approved for coloring in the blobs.

4:53 PM -- Get so excited to see Obama’s name on the ballot I actually save it for last.

4:54 PM -- Meet Mom back out in the parking lot and actually do leaps back to the car that I thought were pretty graceful but likely looked like a cracked out ballerina to everyone else. Do not care about how it looks because I finally completed the reason for my ten and a half hour smile and I am feeling the love. Ask Mom why she is not leaping and notice Matt humors me with one try at a leap. Gotta love him.

5:07 PM -- Arrive home and feel I have got to rid myself of some of this energy or I will burst so I play about an hour of Rock Band while Mom either plays solitaire or knits and Matt gets the chicken ready to bake for our burritos tonight. Finally score 100% on Celebrity Skin on Medium (as if I needed another reason to smile).

6:14 PM -- Matt and I combine efforts to start making guacamole, heating up refried beans, grating cheese and getting the other ingredients out for our yummy burritos.

6:30 PM -- Turn on the television to watch the Super Bowl of politics. Have one brief pang of sadness missing the presence of Tim Russert. Chat over burritos and projection by Brian Williams and Tom Brokaw.

8:00 PM -- Already cheering for so many blue states and chatting with my sister (who is stuck in traffic in Tucson -- the city with the widest roads possible -- on her way home from work, she mailed in her ballot). We hang up when her friend arrives and plan to chat later in the evening.

8:50 PM -- Pretty much doing a square dancing routine in my own head while the dudes spray paint more blue on the Rockefeller Ice Rink map. Matt continues to refresh his live updates from Yahoo and I take Mom home.

9:07 PM - 11:00 PM is pretty much a blur because I was pretty much just jumping around laughing and frolicking through my tears of joy. I think I wrote a blog for Green Leaf Reviewer on our Massachusetts Questions results though. Check it out if you like.

11:15-ish -- Watch John McCain give one of the most eloquent concession speeches I have ever witnessed. Nod in agreement that he is still a very cool guy and smile at his ability to be polite, honest and firm with his supporters. I was especially moved when he looked concerned and pleaded “please” with the crowd several times for booing both his loss and Obama becoming the next President. He certainly flipped the script on that with his very articulate, unwavering support for the President-elect.

11:30-ish -- My sister calls back and we both are watching the same network so we can tandem watch Obama’s acceptance speech. When he takes the stage she remarks on the irony “how about all of them being in red huh?” My eyes immediately begin to well up and everything in both of our houses goes silent. At one point during the speech I quickly utter to her “you ever heard over a million people chanting ‘Yes We Can’ in unison before?” and upon the close of his speech she, Matt and I all breath the sigh of relief that the entire country will hopefully be breathing today as we finally begin making progress toward a brighter future.

Midnight-ish -- Actually utter the unthinkable words “I can’t wait for January” just before Matt packs it in for the night. Clearly that sentiment has nothing to do with the weather. There is no way I will be sleeping as I am far too wired and want to watch more results pour in (like North Carolina and Indiana that closed hours prior but have still yet to report).

1:00 AM Wednesday November 5, 2008 -- Finally admit my exhaustion and send I love yous back and forth with my sister so I can go to bed. Spend about another half hour wide awake in bed smiling while I replay the day in my mind.

7:30 AM -- Wake up and immediately get on YouTube to locate and re-watch Barack Obama’s Presidential acceptance speech. Get misty again, start writing and know that for the first time in a very long time, everything will truly be alright.

9 comments:

pastrywitch said...

Yay for your super day and yay for Obama and yay for the country! Glad you had such a super day! I'm late for work! Have to go! Bye!

High Desert Diva said...

Your day was similar to mine... although I no longer have any finger nails.

Happy day!

Bridgete said...

I quietly twittered my excitement all night. And I couldn't believe that I only had to stay up until 11. But I waited up for the speech.

I also called my mom and we shared our happy tears.

Michelle said...

great blog post and I totally agree. I was crying like crazy. AndI agree with your john Mccain and his speech. Very classy!

YES WE CAN!

Karen said...

This was a great post... loved reading it. It's nice to see this country excited about our new president!

Kala said...

Well put, I share the same emotions. What a great day:)

ginger said...

i was amazed that it was over soooo fast! i expected to be up till midnight and i was in bed (not sleeping because i was too excited) by 10:30...or thereabouts.

so now that i can catch up on all of these blogs i am glad to see i'm not the only overly excited, nerve wrecked person around. ;)

i have a lovely vision of you and matt leaping across the parking lot after voting. haha! i did something similar when i sealed my mail in ballot a few weeks ago.

draagonfly said...

The Super Bowl of Politics... LMAO

Yes, leaping about definitely describes the elated elevated definitely NOT overrated emotions I was feeling as well. I don't know that anyone could've avoided feeling the ripple as our global vibration was raised to a higher hum than ever.

Effin AWESOME.

I'm still as high as a Mraz concert makes me. :)

Chris Stone said...

awww. you made me cry. again.


sweet post.