Worth Waiting For

Today I feel a little bit like I am standing outside the door of a really great New Year’s Eve party... but not quite, because I’ve never been a big fan of New Year’s Eve. I am a sucker for the fulfillment of long awaited dreams, however.

In the quiet of this day after Barack Obama’s election, I revel in odd little things - the flourish of the words the press feels free to use "President Barack Obama - we savor the phrase!" (Washington Post editorial), "rebirth" and "We did it!" Rare and helplessly, almost childishly expressive gushing, a hint of which we saw last night when the newscasters tried to hold back, tried not to call it too early, as if they, like we, couldn't quite believe it, and knew they wouldn't have strength enough to recover if it wasn't true.

Today I revel in the little things that Barack Obama’s inspiration made happen. That my 79 year old mother, who grudgingly became a US citizen 10 years ago, worked at the polls for four hours in a nursing home, to ensure that her less nimble friends could vote. That John's mother flew from Sacramento to Nevada for three days of door knocking on a replaced knee and two replaced hips. That a friend who drove to Virginia to volunteer and vote was partnered with an 81 year old african american man whose energy was unstoppable. (Even if his bladder wasn’t).

That the elderly were moved to action now - when their life savings seem ready to vanish in the market - with not nearly enough time to recover, blows me away. Who can do that? Inspire and unite across so many lines - even generations. It was telling when John Lewis acknowledged, “No. No, I never thought it would happen.” He cried several times yesterday, he said. He cried, and he said, “I never thought it would happen so fast." - so fast? Ah. So fast. In the span of one little lifetime. (His).

When Barack Obama stopped speaking last night, he was joined on the stage by his beautiful young family. (Wow- those girls. The truth in their smiles. The quiet confidence. Not a false note, not a scripted glance). The Bidens came with grandparents and the diversity was just as real in that inner circle as we thought surely it must have been. It's real, this dream. It’s been nourished by the elderly, quietly hoping. And it’s fed like wildfire with the kindling of the young.

Just in time, Barack Obama, just in time, but more than our fragile, sometimes wrong-headed and stubbornly resilient country could have hoped for.