So today, the mantra has changed from “Yes, we can!” To “Yes, we did!” And I have to say I’m quite happy about it.
Last night, TFN and I and voted (30 minutes in and out the door), then went to our favorite little Cajun place for some wine, food and to watch the polls. After a few drinks, we went home.
At some point on the five-minute drive home, Obama was declared the victor. We watched McCain concede, then went to bed.
This morning, nothing has changed really. The economy is still in the crapper, and everyone I know lives in fear for their jobs.
Still, at the same time, there is something hanging in the air. And, dare I say it? I think it’s hope.
I think that we all really made a difference yesterday, things are on their way to getting better. It won’t happen immediately, but it feels so good to have hope for the future again.
Everybody is walking around in a happy daze. Not only have we elected a man who will be soon beginning a historic presidency based on his race, we have elected a man who embodies ideals for us that we can end this war, that we can turn this economy around, that we can… do anything.
Quoting a text I received last night: “We so FUCKING CAN!”
This weekend marks the annual pilgrimage of the Angry Monkeys to a place not to far from Z, for our Polar Assault known as Iceman. We are all suffering from an extreme lack of training this year, and our performance will be dismal. Even so, in the interest of the theme of today, we can do this. Yes, we can.
And until we head up north, if you’re looking for us, we’ll be dancing to Joy Division.
2 comments:
I still have not slept.
Today, November 5, has been about feeling it, in sunshine and 70 degrees, on the beach, with neglected friends who've forgiven me.
***
In life, there are no coincidences.
There are intricately, intimately related sequences of events, the causal relationships between which are not always as readily apparent as we'd like them to be.
Remember, ten years ago, when Hollywood suggested that "Hope Floats?"
Remember what happened just a week ago Tuesday, in the city we love?
Make no mistake: hope is now torpedoing into the port of Detroit, and it ain't takin' "no" for an answer!!!
I'm hoping the presidency reflects the campaign.
Four years ago on this day, my feeling was pretty much, "We're still isolated and alone."
And then the three toughest years of my life followed abruptly.
It wasn't just Bush. His administration was in over its head, but the Democrats over compensated, and it really felt like one big crevice opened underneath the rest of us, with all of us hanging onto our friends and family in a rapidly tiring human chain.
We didn't fall in. I'm proud of that.
But last night felt like the majority of us finally acknowledged that if we work together, we can pull everyone out and seal up the crevice.
I had a new feeling of, "We're not alone. And even better, I feel a lot stronger for having survived it all. Thank God it wasn't all in vain."
Maybe it looks bleak to some who haven't been tested yet, but as for me and everyone else whose troubles were ignored by those living an American dream of 'every man for himself,' I found out I wasn't alone, and that made me feel more American than I've ever felt.
I'm proud to continue making sacrifices, so long as I know our leaders respect that we're out here.
I can keep going.
It feels like finally finding the right exit and seeing those familiar lights after driving around in darkness a long time.
The kids are asleep and Tom and I have stopped arguing over who didn't read the map right.
It's just a big feeling of relief when you've been lost so long and finally get a glimpse of the familiar again.
(Kids are in the Halloween candy again. Gotta rip a Snickers out of somebody's hand.)
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