It's Obamaphoric

Last night as I had tears streaming down my face as I watched ABC announce that Barack Obama would be our next President of the United States. All I could think about was earlier that morning in the car on our way to daycare, I had looked back at both of my kids and thought to myself, "My children will hopefully be able to witness an amazing moment in history become a reality if Obama wins the Presidential race tonight." This little "moment" was quite emotional for me as we continued our drive. (So much so, that Brynn asked me, "What's wrong, mommy?") I was on pins and needles all day and it gave me goosebumps thinking about what might happen. I kept praying that Obama would indeed, come out victorious. This election has, hands-down, been the most important to me for so many reasons.

I thought about the comment my dad made to me around Christmas time last year when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were still in the running for the Democratic Party's nomination for President of the United States. "America is not ready for a black president. They won't pick him over Hillary." Granted, that was his opinion and I respectfully disagreed with him. After Dj and I were able to hear him speak in person in Jefferson at the high school, I knew he was exactly what our country needed. And to me, it wasn't because he was black.

I will never forget the first time I saw Obama. He was a guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show and as soon as I tuned in that day, and I heard him speaking, I was drawn to his philosophies, theories and ideas. He was someone who brought a different flavor to politics and kept referring to them as "a new way of politics." He was eloquent, confident, yet so honest and realistic. I felt like I could connect with him and he understood where we were coming from. Oprah had made the statement that often times, he was criticized by other African American people for speaking like a "white" person and wnated to know how he responded to that. He said, "I just tell them I speak like Rosa Parks, like Booker T. Washington or Frederick Douglas." When I heard him say that, again....major goosebumps. This guy was the real deal.

And today, I woke up with a new sense of hope. A hope that our country will be heading in the right direction with our new leadership in place come January. A hope that my children will be able to dream big and grow up seeing that whatever they dream for can become a reality. A hope that my kids will feel like they belong and mean something based on their character and not by the 'color of their skin.' It makes me wonder what Martin Luther King Jr. is thinking about all of this. I bet he has tears in his eyes too.