Election Day, Redux

This is it, kids.

The young and the old, the involved and the indifferent, the interested and the disenfranchised, we’re in this together, this time.

One of the most exciting, enlightening and gratifying parts of today is that my niece, Chapel Hill Girl, is voting.

Remember her?

And the great thing – one of the many many great things – about her is that she was an Obama-head from the very start, way back in the field-full-of-democratic-candidates days. Her only disappointment? Her friend Chris, #1 in their high school graduating class, would turn 18 AFTER the election. These kids were bummed out about this like 3 years ago.

Here’s my email to Chapel Hill Girl on Sunday night:

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So, I'm just so over the moon nervous and excited about Tuesday. I think Chapel Hill is just about the most wonderful and fulfilling place you could be that day.

Last night, we were sitting in our favorite, inimitable Tavern, and we named all the presidents in our lifetimes. The president who will be elected on Tuesday will be #10 for me and for Uncle Bill. Your life, on the other hand, has been so completely overwhelmed with Bushes. With 2 terms of Clinton in there, too, thankfully. But sorry, honey – 2 Bushes out of 3 presidents in your lifetime? We'll change that on Tuesday. We will! I mean, Yes We Can!

Love you. Good luck. Talk to you then.

Oh. And read Aunt Jacquie's blog post tomorrow. It's awesome.

Love you sweetie.

¡Viva Obama!

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MartyJoCo started that conversation about presidents-in-our-lifetimes at the Tavern on Saturday.

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Love that Tavern.

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And although she seems worlds more mature and wise than I, MartyJoCo has only 1 more president than I do. But the conversation struck a chord with me, and I've been thinking about it ever since.

Here are my presidents, so far: .

Pretty motley a crew, wouldn't you say?

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It’s interesting to think about, when you’re awake in the night wondering why why why??!!

Kennedy was assassinated when I was an infant – I was 2½ months old. My Brookline, Mass. born-and-bred mom – who had 3½- and 2-year old girls as well, by then – says: .

All I can remember is the sadness we all felt. I held you in the rocking chair, glued to the tv for days. JFK was our hero, it was like a personal assault . . .
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Kennedy was 43 when he was elected. Clinton was 46.

Obama is 47.

Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were born 6 weeks apart, in 1946.

Ford and Reagan and the first Bush and Clinton and Obama and McCain are all lefties. And I don’t know why, but I find that fascinating.

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It’s hard for me to imagine why anyone would vote for McCain. I’m typically an empathetic person, but this one I just don’t get. But I guess the peeps have their reasons. For some it’s only about guns. For others it’s only about abortion. (It seem, however never to be only about the death penalty.)

And for lots of the rest of us, including Jacquie’s boy, it’s about war:



Way to go, buddy. Good luck today. And remember what your mom said yesterday about The Big O. Here's to Optimism. Here's to Obama.

¡Viva!