Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Election day/Election night

We lined up this morning at the Presbyterian church a block down the hill from us. Two divisions vote in the social hall there, and it was reminiscent of the co-op line fifteen minutes before closing on the night before a big holiday. Lots of crowding, but people patient and chatting with neighbors, everyone in it together and anticipating a celebration.

Z. dressed in a blue-striped dress top and (finally, after more shouting than I want to recall), red cords, with my yellow Obama "volunteer" button on her dress. An Obama poll worker gave her another, which I pinned on her coat--parents, you'll understand what a godsend that was while we were still lined up outside in the (somewhat) cold.

The whole wait was maybe 45 minutes. Luck of the draw, A. had Z. when we got to the front, so I went into the booth on my own. Standing inside the privacy of those curtains, I had a hard time pressing the green button to record my vote. For long, long moments, I felt caught in something that I couldn't move out of before I'd let it move through me.

It felt like prayer.

Please, god, please, god. A new world.

Edited at 11:02 pm: NBC just called it. For Z., President Obama will be who she knows, how she grows up.

Fly, my baby girl. Fly.

5 comments:

kathy a. said...

i'm too wired to sleep yet. and your last line has me crying again -- in that good way.

greeneoisie said...

Your last two posts had me crying, too, sis. What a happy day!

Unknown said...

I loved both these posts, S.

Magpie said...

Woot - such a good day.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing the poem in your last post. I cried a good bit last night, too, and also this morning.

It's not just that I support (more of) Obama's policies than those of any other presidential candidate since I came of age. It's that I never thought I'd see this day come: when you don't have to be white, when you don't have to be mainstream, when you don't have to have an Anglo name in order to be elected president.

Even though I have my doubts about our entire system of government, on a personal level, I am completely overcome.