making history

There are events that affect us collectively more than others. All too often these momentous events are tragedies. Natural disasters. Attacks. Assassinations. Calamities. These events leave marks in our collective memory, as well as in our history books.

What were you doing when …?

In my lifetime, I can remember quite a few such events. Where I was when I heard the news, saw the footage. How I felt, what I was doing.

Tomorrow, I feel like I’m going to have the chance to witness something monumentally positive. I feel like I’m marching for women’s suffrage. Like I’m marching on Washington for civil rights. I feel like I’m helping to tear down the Berlin Wall.

I feel like I’ll get to see us landing on the moon.

One small step. One giant leap forward.

Progress in this country has moved slowly. But this election shows that we’ve still been, as a society, making small steps forward. I am excited that we may see improvements in areas and issues that I care deeply about. Education. Dipolmacy. Fighting poverty. Making healthcare available to all.

Not least of all, though, I am excited that we will get to see a Black man elected to the highest office in this country. I am thrilled that I get to see this event in my lifetime. That I get to have a vote in this. That my vote will be counted.

And I am even more thrilled that kids in this country will grow up accepting this as normal. That my own children will grow up accepting this as normal. It will be just a fact of history.

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Images: The top one is one that I’d seen in an email making the rounds, and sent to me by mother. I looked for it online, and found it at Yes We Can Hold Babies, where you can see lots more photos of Obama and babies.

I’d also like to direct you to some more photos that have moved me. First, Girls 4 Obama, found via Bitch, PhD. And second, a collection of photos by Callie Shell, a photojournalist. (Sent to me by John.) I was particularly impressed by the one showing the worn soles of Obama’s shoes.

The other photos above are of Phoebe and Theo. My friend Erica, who has been working her tail off volunteering for the Obama campaign, got us the buttons. Thank you, Erica!

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Oh, and for my word of the day, let’s say enfranchisement.