Moments in Time

I spent the better portion of this year glued to election coverage. Primaries, debates, conventions - Oh MY! I devoured it all with great concern of where my country was headed, but truth be told because it was a compelling drama. Over the course of the last 10 months we have watched the David vs. Goliath primary season of Obama defeating the Clinton machine, seen the resurrection of John McCain and the third act plot twist of Sarah Palin. That's without mentioning all the red herrings like Rev. Wright, Pastor Hagee, Troopergate and yes, even "Joe the Plumber" - An aside, knowing what we do about him, can we cease from calling him that and more accurately call him "Joe from Ohio"?

All the while I watched many late nights, MSNBC, Morning Joe, CNN (and that damn 'best political team on Television), AC360, Today, GMA and yes O'Reilly and Hannity as well. I mourned the loss of the lion of politics in my mind, Tim Russert and revelled in anything and everything Peggy Noonan had to say, even when I disagreed with it.

Then last night it happened - no recount necessary, no Supreme Court intervention, no disappointing finish of a candidate that I was less than thrilled with by the end of the race. No, last night the country seemed to simply right itself and for that BOTH John McCain and Barack Obama should be applauded and respected.

I sighed in relief when Pennsylvania went blue.
I cheered in great anticipation as Ohio went blue.
I was jubilant and proud as in tandem the news reported Virginia turning blue and the West Coast polls closing to bring home the victory of our President-elect.

In that moment I cried, I cried for the joy of watching the resounding choice we made as a country, for the vindication of Joe Biden's service to country and for the return of the John McCain I have always admired and whose eloquence in losing far surpassed any of his actions when seeking to win.

In the closing weeks of this campaign we watched Obama's leadership in his handling of the economic crisis, but for me, more importantly we watched his humanity - in stepping off the trail to see the grandmother who raised him to see the possibility of the dream he was chasing but would not live to see realized. His priority of family ensuring the tradition of taking his young daughters trick-o-treating remained in tact.

We celebrate the history, we celebrate the significance of the time, but what I find so overwhelmingly joyful in this moment is that we celebrate the best in who we are as country - rewarding the person who worked hard, stayed true to himself and never lost sight of what made him the person he is as he reached for the dream of what could be.

My daughter blew out her third birthday candle yesterday, what a day all around.