Hope

Last night I participated, as I did four years ago, in a quick paced, heart-pounding Internet chat with some of my fellows who were as excited and nervous about election night returns. Four years ago we cried, and we did last night too, in very different ways. It's no secret I'm a life long democrat, and the race of the candidate really would never have outweighed my vote, but we can all agree that it was a breath-taking moment in our history. For me personally, as a spiritual humanist(and still atheist) mom to two brilliant (and handsome) biracial boys, I feel a special kinship for this President-Elect.

As the hours wore on, I recalled to my friends in chat, that when Barack Obama spoke at the Democratic National Convention in 2004 I had turned to my then husband breathlessly and said "That man is going to be president in 2008!" He had replied that I was a little bit crazy. My friends, they are excellent friends, and they know their job well. "Well Ei, you are brilliant and your ex is an idiot." Yes, they are kind and caring women. But this was an important time to not just accept the ego strokes. "No, I said. I'm a white Midwestern girl. Idealism is easy for me. Being an idealistic black man is much harder." Which, really, is the remarkable thing about all of this. This man, in this time...won on for the biggest part on a platform of HOPE. That says more to me about this nation and who we are than I know how to express.