i have yet to sit down and document this week because it has been so filled with emotion that i have trouble grasping my words. Sunday was warm and beautiful. It was 78 and a cloudless sky when my sister and i got up groggy eyed and made our way down to the statehouse. As we arrived we saw it...the mass of humans that had converged upon the grounds of this regal white building. we had come to see the same thing as the rest of this sunday morning ... Barack Obama. We looked for the closest space we could to stand and watch. We ended up on the west side of the building standing in the shade of a monument to brave Ohioans who had fought in the civil war. The event started out with the local politicians warming the crowd up for the main event. Standing shoulder to shoulder I surveyed this sea of humanity. They were white, black, young, old, muslim, jewish, rich, poor, office workers, union men, and they were full of hope. Standing there I heard the speech I imagine this man had given hundreds if not thousands of times before, but he still spoke with an earnest tone. I had heard much of the campaign talk already, but standing there on that bright autumn afternoon I knew we were on the edge of something great.
I had voted almost a month ago thanks to the early vote so as to not be stuck in what could amount to be a very long line. so, when tuesday came it felt like any other tuesday. I had to work that evening and was going to miss the beginning of the election coverage. I assumed nothing would be official to very late if at all tuesday night. As the evening grew late and the polls closed I was receiving text after text of the states that were coming in.... all blue. By the time I was ready to close up shop the whole thing had been called ...He had won.
You could hear the beeping horns and the yelling outside of the store, but it wasn't until I got home that night and turned on the tv did i really see it. When Obama delivered his acceptance speech something changed. An ease was in the air that hadn't been there before...that of real equality...that of hope for something better than the last few years. Wednesday I woke up to a different America. I woke up to the America that voted for hope over fear, and it poured into the streets. I woke up to a new country.
