Yes, we did

Last night I picked up my son from daycare feeling a pit in my stomach. Kelly was at work, having spent the morning throwing up. It appears that the stomach flu that Tyler had over the weekend, has hit us now. Kelly left work early last night, which gave her a chance to curl up in bed and rest, while I laid under a blanket on the downstairs couch, watching DirecTV's election channel mix, and feeling pretty crappy.

I stayed awake as long as I could, but had to turn it off at 10pm, to get some sleep, in case Tyler woke up early as he had done that morning. Tyler, who had cut himself on his ear at daycare, was sleeping soundly when I went in to check on him and pull the covers over his almost three-year-old frame. While he slept, a historic moment was occurring in the world around him. The specifics of that moment were as yet unclear, but I was hopeful as I left his room and got into bed, shivering and feeling lousy.

An hour into my restless sleep, the sound of fireworks woke me up. It was after 11pm. I smiled to myself, and closed my eyes, hoping something special had just occurred. My neighbor is an Obama supporter and I was hoping he, or someone close by was celebrating.

Throughout the night, I tossed and turned, well aware of how junky I was feeling, and half-dreaming about what the world would look like when I woke up the next morning.

Obama's campaign inspired millions of young and new voters, using the phrase "Yes, we can." When I woke up this morning, feeling a bit better, I turned on CNN and saw that Obama had won. I thought to myself..."Yes, we did."

This morning, we have the first African American president-elect in this nation's history. To Tyler, it means nothing. He's too young to understand the historic moment that had occurred, but I'm okay with that. It means that growing up, it'll be normal and possible for a black man, or a woman to run for President. It sets the stage for when he's old enough to truly look at the world, and see what's happening around him.

I am at work today, feeling crappy still, and munching on crackers and water as I type this. CNN is on in my studio, and I find myself pausing my writing as excerpts of Obama's speech are replayed. I am not feeling very articulate at the moment, but I am inspired to blog about this moment, because it occurred during my son's lifetime.

I have no idea what the world will look like when Tyler reads this blog someday, but I have hope that my vote helped to begin a change that he is reaping the rewards from as he does.

When I look at the world today, my eyes get a bit watery, and my emotions threaten to spill over. For 21 months, I've been hoping Obama would make it this far, and it's an amazing thing to experience.

Yes, we can.

Yes, we did.