Gimme an O....

BAMA!

We're anxiously, eagerly watching the election results roll in, excited by the news to this hour, but always holding our breath after that infamous all-night (and weeks long) wait in 2000. When the original states were called, with Kentucky's eight electoral votes for McCain and Vermont's three electoral votes for Obama, Kyra was immediately despondent--"Awwwww, he's losing?" she cried out. It was a nice opportunity to say, "No matter how things turn out, we'll thank God that we were able to have our say, and we'll be grateful that courageous people are willing to lead the country." It's certainly not a job I would want....

We were planning to spend the evening with friends, pouring the champagne as this historic decision rolls in. The kids were beyond too tired, though, and I had to set aside my selfish want to celebrate with friends and "be the parent," as we say many times a day. Now Matt and I are snuggling up on the couch here at home, I'm avoiding the seminary reading I desperately need to do, and I'm thinking about what it would be like if my grandparents were alive to watch all this underway. If I knew my grandmother as I think I did, I can imagine she would have a harsh word or two for Sarah Palin--I don't think she would have been a fan after that first speech (it seemed to go so quickly downhill from there....). As for my grandfather, he was one for history being made--and it looks like it will be made in grand fashion tonight. I'm sure he and my dad would have been on the phone every five minutes, clocking the results with the speed of the finest CNN pollster. They would have loved every minute of it.

So, in their memory, we'll love every minute of it, too--and pray that somehow Obama's spirit of uniting the country will prevail in practice as it prevailed in his prose.