The Big O

My kids see things in black and white, and they want to know what will happen if the dread maverick McCain wins tomorrow. I can reassure them that as far as their daily lives are concerned, nothing will change too dramatically. They will still get up in the morning, fight with each other, forget their backpacks, and eat too much junk food. But deep down inside where it counts? It will change everything.

But today we still have the luxury of hope.

“Hope is that thing inside of us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that better days are ahead” ~Barack Obama

I can’t speak for the nation, but what I know is that we’ve had some dark days around this joint in the last decade or so, days when my head has hung low in shame and disbelief. As a mother and a voter and an eternal optimist, I’ve looked for and often found ways to see the bright side. I’m not one to sit in protest of “God Bless America”, even though it has no place in the 7th inning stretch. From the mountains, to the prairies, to the oceans, white with foam. Home is still sweet to me, and I want my civic pride back.

We have the opportunity to stick our necks out tomorrow, to breathe deep and dig our heels in, and start to make change happen. We’re not voting for another fat cat who claims to have our best interests at heart and asks that we continue to nod and agree and obey. My vote for Obama is an agreement to see the change, to be the change.

It’s exciting – this tickle of optimism as we peek out from behind the looming shadow of the last eight years. We are poised on the verge of a truly magnificent moment, and it’s not about race or gender or even about party, it’s about action and it’s about passion. It’s time.

Vote for Change. Vote for Hope. Vote for Obama.