Happy Days

So this is what it feels like to experience an election and not fall into a deep, soul sucking, spirit destroying paralytic depression? Wow. it's been so long I've forgotten.  I attended a Party sponsored Election Night party that ended up being an actual partyWho knew these things were actually supposed to be fun? It was the first time since I moved to North Carolina that I went to an event hosted by the Wake County Democrats that by the end of the evening half the group wasn’t tears and the other in police custody. I mean, I ended up in tears but in happy tears. I had forgotten that was an option. Gawd. Is this what being a republican feels like? No wonder they have such a huge following! Sure, you get to feel happiness but you  have to surrender your soul to do so.

Election day was a very long day. I was out in the rain at 5:45 AM planting signs outside my polling place - There was no representative from the Republican’s doing the same, so if you went by my polling place the last thing you would see before you filled out your ballot was a sign for a Democrat. Actually, if you came to my polling place you stood in line for a while then you stood in a another line and then you filled out your ballot. At 5:45 I wasn’t out skulking around on my own, I had an audience. The line had all ready formed.

By the time I got back to vote around twenty after six it was raining in earnest, but not as earnest as the folks all ready in line, they were going to vote and the rain was going to keep them from it. They were glad they were standing in line Imagine my surprise that my precinct is made up more than the three and half people that we’ve averaged at out precinct meetings over the past few years. I voted and was out of there by a little after seven. I was number 45. Hours pass. I find myself compulsively checking news sites for returns hours before they are due to start coming in. I do learn that everyone’s polling place is full and everyone is standing in a line. Good. But it also raining everywhere and this makes me scared. Damn voter suppressive rain. I forgot that rain on a very important day can also be a good sign. Many, many hours pass and finally the results start trickling in. McCain - 8, Obama 3. It seemed to stay there for hours and I was getting really tense. I paced around the house for a while making myself even more tense. This was not working. I took a seat and invited Dogger up to keep me company. The results were getting better, Dogger fell asleep and I was felling less awful. I decided to go to the party.

It was crowded! And hot and happy! It was an entire ballroom filled with happy Democrats! We were shocked! We hardly knew what to do with ourselves. Happiness is not something we know how to process. And yet we kept getting happier! Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida! We protest against watching FAUX Noise and we win!  but not before we watch Karl Rove pass around FAUX themed cookies around the studio in a truly a bizarre moment.

And then... I had to leave. It was so hot and so crowded and the only way to get a drink was to buy one and I was too cheap. I left the hotel and kept running into crowds of people in front of restaurants and bars watching TV and just being happy. I arrived home and went up to change clothes. I was right in the middle when I looked at the screen and it said President - Elect Barak Obama. I started screaming. Then I cried, but they were happy tears.

I was and am so happy. I start giggling for no reason. Everyone I meet is euphoric. Euphoria! Wow, what a feeling! The whole world is happy fir us! They did hate us and now they are happy for us. Does anyone know how I can get to Washington to see the inauguration?