i got up at 5:45 to make sure i was at the polls by 6:30. my roommate and a coworker and i huddled together for a little over and hour before we voted. the wind was pretty crisp. people in line were enthusiastic. we met several people that live on our block. i loved the feeling of community.
here i am waiting to vote.
i have never voted so openly in my life. there were people sitting on the floor filling out ballots. it was crazy and awesome. when we were waiting outside a bus full of itty bitty black babies drove by and they were all hanging out the windows yelling for obama. it was pretty precious. where we vote is right off main, so there were tons of people driving by yelling and honking.
i will be devastated if we lose this election. the feeling of driving down the streets of my neighborhood lined with obama signs and fallen leaves has been so comforting. i only want it to be over if he will be our president. i don't want to give up this feeling of hope yet.
nick was not worried at all. but i was still skeptical:
me: OBAMA OR BUST MOTHER FUCKER
Nick: haha
I love it
you are full of piss and vinegar today huh?
me: i am energized and nervous and excited
Nick: me too
and its one of the last remaining beautiful days
me: i know! please please obama!
Nick: its gonna happen, don't sweat it
me: i don't like to count half black presidents before they hatch
but i hope you are right!
Nick: good point, fingers are crossed
after work erin and i headed to 180 for drinks and nibblets. kelly, jill and gretchen met us there. after we all snacked and had a few we decided to go to mccoys. it was packed. we went to riot room. it was empty. so we opted to go to the apartment where we could all sit, hear and see. thank god we always have boxed wine. morgan met us there and we settled in to watch the poll closings.
at 8:30 i received a text from bates telling me to "breathe easy" but we weren't ready yet.
it was still too soon to breathe easy.
after we took ohio we let out the sigh of releif and decided it was time to hit the bars.
we were not 100% yet, but the energy and excitement was building.
we went to the point, where jill and i had watched the 2004 election and cried in our drinks as we prepared for another 4 years of bullshit. there were not a lot of people in the bar and the election was on some tvs and the preseason KU game was on others. it took some convincing to get sound. finally we did. some jackasses were seriously offended that they had to listen to the election while they watched the game.
seriously?
SERIOUSLY?
fuck you white hat. i am pretty sure that is what erin said.
once nbc projected the win we went nuts and when we saw that mccain was conceding it was on.
morgan heard some older "gentleman" at the bar comment that young america voting is like letting a 13 year old drive your car.
fuck you old dude. i am pretty sure this is what morgan was too mature to say.
but i may have...not smoking makes me bitchy.
bates texts "tip your glass dear". i do and then i call him to yell in his ear. followed by my mom and dad and several others.
other texts received: "fucking shit obama is going to win!!!!"
"i'm crying"
"i know! new york is going completely crazy"
"copy that"
"well hot damn! ____ is going to have to concede to a tax break.
poor thing!"
"i love you! yes we can!"
we headed into westport to celebrate. people were honking and yelling and hugging and crying and high fiving. the bar was shoulder to shoulder. i finally got us four shots of jager and sat down just in time for his speech.
the bar was silent when he began.
tears were unstoppable and flowed freely from most.
in fact they are welling up again as i write this.
it was beautiful.
and for the first time that i can remember in my adult life i am proud to be an american.
i feel like my voice is heard.
and i feel like we can make a difference.
i can't believe we did it.
this morning i return to an office full of people that think something bad happened last night.
ignorant small minded fucks.
they will see.
it will take us a while to clean up the mess, but it will happen.
yes we can.
i still can't fucking believe it.
i woke up to an amazing sunrise,
a slight hangover and an overall feeling of hope, accomplishment and happiness.
america. fuck yeah.
