I live in New England, and I have my entire life. I live in a state that is known to be blue. We always vote Democrat. Unfortunately we also don't have many delegates, so I have always questioned how much impact our vote really had. For most of my (voting) life I would go to the polls to only watch the candidate I didn't vote for win. It didn't stop me from voting the next time, but I had pretty much come to accept that the election probably wasn't going to go my way.
I've been worried about this economy. We are solidly middle class people. We both work in fields were we can find ways to make money. Not everyone we care about is in that same situation.
I have a sister who is young (early 20's) and now a single mother to a two year old girl. She is living with her mother because she could not survive on her own, even with the overtime she is working. She is lucky to have that and she knows it. My mother in law just got laid off from a huge insurance company that she has worked for for 30 years. She was due to retire in about 2 years. My husbands sister and her husband both work for the same company and more layoff's are scheduled in January and March.
That is just to name a few.
This election mattered to me in a way previous elections never did. I'm not a news watcher, we watch copious amounts of pbs so my children are blissfully unaware of how evil this world can be. I didn't know all the facts and figures, I didn't know until today that our new president had just lost his grandmother. I am not the person who will be able to talk intelligently about politics and the world.
This election was huge. It was bound to be historic, no matter how it ended. I left work early and picked up my three year old son to take him to the polls with me. I explained to him that we live in a country, that the name of our country is the United States of America. That we were going to vote so we could choose who would be in charge. I told him the names of the candidates and had him repeat them back. I told him who I was voting for. I brought him in to where you fill in your ballot, pulled up a chair for him to stand on and showed him what I was doing.
On the way home I told him we could watch the news in the morning and find out who was going to be in charge. He said "I"ll do it mom." I told him maybe someday he could be president but he was still little, he said "I'm getting bigger!" Then decided that I should be president, so I told him that I could but I just wanted to be his mom ok? He thought that was a great idea. When we got home he said "Lets put on the news and see who won!"
I think it's important to include kids when you vote at any election, but this time it was different. I wanted to be able to tell him that he was part of something he will be learning about in school. I wanted to put an impression in his little head that maybe, if I am lucky, will be a memory.
I fell asleep later that night with the tv on, just not able to stay awake but not wanting to miss it. I woke up at midnight and my husband was awake again watching it. I asked what was happening and he told me Obama won!
We DVR everything important and this was no exception. We watched our new president elect's acceptance speech and something happened that has never happened to me before. I was hopeful. I was moved to tears and optimism. I was watching a speech that I knew the impact of which I will never forget. I know I will be telling my grandchildren what it was like to watch that when it happened. Thanks to technology I will also be able to walk them to the nearest computer and show it to them.
I think our new president has a long road ahead of him, but I truly feel that he won't be alone. It seems to me that in that speech the American people were invited on this journey with him. I wonder if that invitation will spark something, a feeling of cooperation, of unity, of just being American together. I think those words "being American" mean more to me now then they ever have.
As further evidence that I am one of those middle class families he was speaking about and too,
The statements of "yes we can" moved me more each time I heard them, I just wish Bob the Builder would get the heck out of my head!
You can watch that amazing speech here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jll5baCAaQU
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