Wow

Wow. That is all I am going to say. Sometimes one word is more powerful than an entire book of words. So, yeah. Really. No more words. Well, maybe one. Happiness. OK, two. Sheer happiness. Now I'm signing off.

OK - I'm not signing off. I will sign off in a minute. I am so happy! I have to be rather quietly happy, though. My county went something like 66% Red. But the state? Man, it is bleeding towards purple. Texas used to be a blue state. Hard to believe, right? But in my lifetime it was!

I thought I would cry last night but mostly I wasn't able to. I kept waiting for someone to cut in and say, "Oops. Our projections are wrong. Never mind." It wasn't until McCain made his gracious concession speech that I let myself believe it. I tried to ignore the boos from some of his supporters every time he mentioned Obama's name, even as McCain held up his hand and said, "Please."

It is reported that in the Chicago crowd, nary a boo was heard as McCain appeared on the giant screen. Personally, I hate boos. I hate them at basketball games, football games, and any other games. Whenever I hear boos I get slightly embarrassed for whoever is booing. I'm not sure why. It makes me uncomfortable. Anyway, after the concession speech, I thought I'd cry. But I couldn't do it until I saw Jesse Jackson's tears. Then I sniffled a bit. Race wasn't an issue for me in this election; I would have voted for Obama had he been green with red dots. But truly, we have obviously crossed a bridge here. And it is a historical one. Watching the emotions crawl across Jesse Jackson's face just got to me. He was trying to control himself, his lips quivered and he kept trying to not blink but the tears streamed down, anyway. He has been working for this moment a lot longer than Obama. He has been working for this moment even as his peaceful comrades fell to sniper's bullets. And he continued working without ever really believing he would see a moment such as last night, in his own lifetime. He selflessly worked for the future generations. And then, unexpectedly, he lived to see it to fruition. What a blessing for him. An unbelievably perfect and climactic blessing.

And I cried once during Obama's speech when he mentioned "people huddled around their radios in the forgotten corners of the world"....or something like that.

Now I'm done. The impact of my statements are lessened with each and every word that I continue to add. Would someone please stop me? Really. Drag me away. Please. Now.

Oh no. Now I'm going to try and be funny. At one point during the speech, Obama was talking about his best friend of sixteen years, leading up to Michelle's name, and Ellie blurts out, "William Ayers!" instead of Michelle. That made me laugh. I suddenly imagined William Ayers (who looks suspiciuosly like Weird Al Yankovic in his old photos) rushing the stage, and Obama whipping out a turban and maliciously laughing while crying out, "Suckers! Where is my Koran? I must recite from the Koran!" Then of course, he would be joined by Jermiah Wright his Christian minister, who would espouse his plans to take over the world, starting with Israel.

We have truly tough times ahead of us. There is no magic pill to fix our mess. There is no one policy that can be passed to put us all back together. But it feels as if we have all woken up and realized that the emperor has no clothes. We are awakening from mass hypnosis. I know that Obama is far from perfect. He is a human being and all that entails. But for this moment in time, I truly believe he is exactly what we need. Someone who is inclusive, who stated that he wants to listen to people, especially when they disagree with him. It is so refreshing compared to the "If you're not with us, you're against us..." mentality we've suffered the last 8 years. My mom used to say, "you'll attract more flies with honey than you will with vinegar". I've had enough vinegar. The boos at the concession speech.....fading away. Time to bring out the honey.

Back to race (since I can't seem to shut up). This morning I told Camille we'd elected a new president. "I know," she said.

"Do you know who we elected?"


"Yes," she said. "Obama."

"This is a big deal, Camille. He is the first African American to be elected as president."

"What does that mean?" she asked.

"He has dark skin. Only people with light skin have been president, before."

To this Camille replied, "I don't know what you're saying." She looked at her skin. She looked at my skin. "I have dark skin," she said. Then she looked at me like whatever it was I was saying was surely the silliest thing she had ever heard.

Peace. Is. Coming. Maybe not now, maybe not tomorrow. But there is a whole slew of kids growing up who don't understand skin color. So, yeah. Good stuff ahead.

A Very Hopeful Sardine Mama