A place of Hope

Obama won last week. I can hardly write it without tearing up. its taken me so long to process what this means while trying to access how it feels...and though the word is larger than life, somehow Hope doesn't encompass it all.

It means we still live in a country where anything really can happen. Where I really can tell both my son AND my daughter that they can be whatever they want to be-- even President. It means we are more alike than we thought. It means most of us still care, still believe in the promise that this country made to us, and still feel pride when we see the American flag. It means that though I live in the middle of a metropolitan city, I can still feel so much joy at that moment that I hug and cry with every stranger I see.

We were here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qL-CgzQ0FY

How do you capture that kind of joy again? That one man, this new President, has brought that in people even if just for a moment in time -- well that is worth my vote a thousand times over.

Godspeed, President Obama. The world is yours, and we are there to be on your team. Don't stop believing, indeed!

A note to K

You are growing so fast, my sweet boy. You face life head on with so much enthusiasm, but that means you will be ready to leave me sooner than I might like. When I first sent you to PK you were only 3 years old. You stood by the window crying as I left for the first 6 weeks. Your stubbornness and your pure love of me kept you standing there for weeks longer than I might have expected. Once I finally convinced you I was coming back, you began to wave. You would stand in your spot in the basement school and look up at me with those big blue trusting eyes and wave like crazy, blowing me kisses. And finally, a tap on your heart to show me you loved me, never taking your eyes off of me. I always had to walk away first. Towards the end of the year, you would sometimes wander off before me. But not always.
This year you give me a quick kiss, hug your sister, and run off. I look down at the window sometimes when I leave but you are never there. You are busy, as you should be, and I already miss your 3-year-old self. But I will always feel that tap on my heart when I part from you.