O, what a night!

Well, the "pundits" aren't quite ready to "call" it, but I will and yes, "O, what a night it is!" as we see the election of Barack Obama as our next President.

Hannah, who just returned from an election party held at school, has been following the entire election closely with me this year, and we do share pretty much the same viewpoints on most issues, including our readiness for change and delight with the election outcome. As I see her youth and enthusiasm, and reflect on the impact of the importance of this night to our country, I have "memory flashes" of other moments from my younger life ~ JFK's assassination (I was only 4 and could only fathom that my favorite cartoon show was being interrupted); the 1968 assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy - I was older then and more aware of what we were losing, what was at stake, yet not quite not old enough to completely take it all in; and then late in the evening of June 5, 1976, our high school choir (some of us just having graduated from high school) found ourselves standing near the Lincoln Memorial (in D.C. for a choir competition) and gave a short impromtu concert for a small crowd, ending with "Abraham, Martin, and John" ("has anybody here seen my old friend Abraham? can you tell me where he's gone? Freed a lot people, but it seems the good die young...") - an older woman in the crowd came up to our director afterwards with tears in her eyes and said, "Thank you, do you realize that today is the 8th anniversary of RFK's death?" Of course, none of us had, but again, we were called to reflect on where we were standing and who had gone before us.

Tonight is one of those "life" moments for all of us - not just here in the states - but across the world. We are embracing and celebrating a change, a new world that clearly moves us forward in a direction, though perhaps uncharted, can only be seen as positive, exciting, and historically shifting for all. Take a breath, breathe in and out, and remember where you are this night. O, what a night.