Free At Last, Free At Last, Thank God Almighty, We Are Free At Last!

I am so happy that I threw caution to the wind and battled the crowds at Grant Park tonight. It was a wonderful atmosphere...hundreds of thousands of people, standing together peacefully, huddled around various jumbotrons scattered throughout the park, watching the election results come in. As I am only 4'10", eventually I could only see maybe the upper corners of the screen, but I loved standing with so many of my fellow Chicagoans--young, old, white, black, Asian, Latino, men, women...I think there was a Scottish guy behind me--and cheering and applauding. The roar when President-Elect Obama took the stage was deafening, and his speech brough tears to my eyes. Especially when he started talking about Ann Nixon Cooper.

I wish that I could have done more for this campaign...two jobs and other volunteering obligations really took a toll on me time-wise (an evening of phone-banking and multiple donations was all I could personally muster), but I truly am in awe of everyone who gave so much of themselves to make this possible for our country. THANK YOU ALL.

I prayed and prayed that our country, having been shown the possibility of an Obama presidency, would choose it. And we did! Of course, we really do have a lot of hard work ahead of us. But I have confidence in this wonderful man who is now our next President. And I have confidence that he can motivate us all to do the work that's needed to be done and make all necessary sacrifices. Although President-Elect Obama is indeed intelligent, persuasive, personable, and charismatic, people who think that his movement was all an ego trip on his part--an exercise in celebrity, if you will--are sorely mistaken. It's not really about him. It's about the millions of people who were willing to move mountains for change in our government.

Oh, and I love his family completely unironically. I love them like a British granny with a collection of Royal Family tea towels. I love them all.

So yes, it was a beautiful day, as U2 would say. The day that "I have a dream" became reality.

In other news...ahem...it was my intention to get a Happy Insomniac update up before the end of October. Like anyone gives a shit with the election!!! But still. I'm trying to be more punctual and reliable these days.

BUT...I really do have a good excuse this time...I've been stuck on jury duty for the past week and a half, which has required me to wake up at 5:45 in order to get ready in the morning and get myself to the Daley Center in good time. Which means that I'm NO insomniac these days. (Well, except for tonight, obviously.) So with my life on hold until tomorrow, at least, and with my raging election obsession, the next Happy Insomniac update will either appear this weekend or early next week. I'll keep y'all updated.

Good night!