election day 2008

i tossed and turned last night. i fell asleep wondering if it really had happened. i woke up and thought that it must have been a dream. had i really sat in a room with some of my closest friends and watch one of the most historical elections in our lifetime?

yes, i turned on the tv to assure myself.

i pinched myself and i was awake.

yesterday morning i decided to walk to my voting poll. i thought about driving but i thought that i wanted to savor the moment and reflect. i wanted to get away from npr, facebook, cnn and every other website that seemed to infiltrate my thoughts. i wanted to think for myself. i was sure of who i was voting for. i just wanted to think.

i thought back to jack and dolores brooks, my mom's parents. and i thought back to jesse sturdivant, my dad's dad. i thought back to my dad's mom, whom i've never met. and i thought about the fact that my parents were born in a time when they weren't treated equally because of the color of their skin.

so i walked and pondered the sacrifices of my family. i looked at my skin. my voting decision wasn't based simply on emotion, but it was complemented by the fact that this is historic and personal for all of us.

i stood in line and got nervous. i had the chills. and i couldn't believe that this was actually happening. i voted. and i left. and i walked home.

later that evening i watched the results with some of my closest friends. it didn't matter who we had voted for, we were simply enjoying the evening. again. within our parents' lifetimes, there were some who couldn't vote because of the color of their skin. that struck me. i sat, with my biracial boyfriend, my egyptian sister, my black brother, my mexican sister...friends who represent different faith traditions and we watched in unity as the votes came in.

we held our breath and then saw mccain concede. and then let it loose when obama spoke.

i don't really care what your political affiliation is. i really don't. this election has brought out the dirtiest and ugliest parts of my friends and your friends. i see it on facebook, i see it in blogs. it leaves a disgusting taste in my mouth. we've become a bitter, elitist, holier-than-thou group of people who can't seem to consider that we may not always be right.

this isn't an 'i told you so' blog. this is it's going to be okay blog.

we have a bi-racial, multi-national president in office. he represents so many aspects of our society on a basic level. he is black and he is white. united.

and we woke up and we are okay. like obama said...it is not about who we elected. it is what we do now.

good morning america. good morning.