Yes we did.
Slightly more than four years ago, I watched Barack Obama make his keynote address at the DNC for John Kerry. I had not heard of him before. After his speech, I stood up in my housemate's bedroom, tears in my eyes and pride in my heart, and declared "That man's going to be president. And I cannot wait!"
Turns out I didn't have to wait that long.
What a great night. Tuesday helped to lessen the pain of eight years ago, the stress of Florida and hanging chads and the Supreme Court decision. Of course I wanted Barack to take Ohio and Pennsylvania and Indiana, but more than anything else, I wanted him to take Florida. Florida was ours eight years ago, then it was stripped away, and I wanted it back. As it turns out, we didn't need Florida, and we didn't find out we had it until after we learned we won the whole country. So I guess for some it was anti-climatic that we took Florida. I was still excited.
We thought it was going to be a late night. But at 10:10 pm Central Time, that magic announcement flashed on our television screen. CJ and I hugged each other and hollered and broke open a bottle of sparkling apple cider for a toast. The phone calling began. The celebrating commenced. I asked CJ how he felt, and he answered simply, "I can breathe again."
to be continued...
