On The Day Baby Was Made

November 4, 2008

To the children of the world:

Today is a big day.

I voted yesterday. I waited in a line of feisty fellow Americans whose ballots were lost in the mail or never sent – cursing, sighing, ranting strangers with whom I have everything and nothing in common.

I hardly slept last night, waking in fits and starts over our democracy.

Today the sun rose angry and new all at once in reds and peaches smeared across the morning sky. Before sitting down to work I said a prayer three times, once for McCain, once for Obama and once for America:

May the long time sun shine upon you
All love surround you
And the pure, pure light within you
Guide your way on.

As the day ticked by in molasses minutes, I busied myself best I could – working, cleaning, running – anything to occupy my mind as the question mark loomed. American flags waved more fervently, Obama-Biden signs leapt off of lawns, car after car bore stickers calling for change, youngsters’ eyes shone brighter, my breath breathed stronger, and a fierce wind whipped up – bringing over the purple mountain majesties a storm of gloriously new weather. And I thought to myself:

I believe in America again.
I believe because Obama believes.
The world believes because Obama believes.

And I think back to our trip to Europe when we met the young boy who begged us incessantly, “For your children, for my children, for the children of the world please vote Obama.” And I think about my friend Laura Dean and all she did from the very beginning to help Obama win – the embodiment of the passion and power that so many Americans have shared throughout this, the longest campaign in our history. And I think about my contributions and my moments in downtown Denver during the Democratic National Convention. And I am overwhelmed with the fact that I, we, have been part of a remarkable historical moment.

I have no doubt Obama will win. Yet I will rejoice when it happens as though I never thought it was possible. I can hardly imagine it, really. We are lucky to witness this... “an iconic figure on the world stage,” as Tom Brokaw put it.

9:10pm MT: “Senator Barack Obama elected 44th president of the United States.”

It is over and it is all beginning at once. And so tomorrow a new world.