The Party's Over (Eliza Gilkyson)

One party (in all definitions of the word) is over... and another is just beginning - zippity!

I sat in front of the television last night from 7 p.m. on, wearing my new Dar T-shirt and my My Vote Counted! sticker, burning my purple candles, eating thin-crust veggie pizza, thinking positive, watching as blue states began to overtake on the Rockerfeller Center ice skating rink... and finally cracking open a bottle of Voyant chai cream liqueur (served over ice) at 11 p.m. when Barack Obama hit 284 electoral votes and was declared the 44th President of the United States... :-)

Thankyoujesus... I *finally* live in a blue state! - let's turn this country upside down... and start over, thinking about the *people* and not the politics. I don't envy our new president, faced with a war in Iraq, an economy in crisis and a constituency in discord - however, I firmly believe Obama, with his obvious charisma, his long-range vision and his articulate speech, has the ability to unite, to heal and to provide long-overdue and much-needed leadership. What's so funny 'bout integrity, compassion and fiscal responsibility? - I'm so looking forward to 2009... and beyond...

I wept at the initial announcement (I kissed my husband, I hugged my son, I called my daughter... and my other son called me)... and again when Obama spoke passionately (oh my god, a president with vocabulary, poise and the power to inspire!) to the crowd of half a million in Grant Park in Illinois (so different from McCain's by-invitation-only ballroom setting) - the beaming faces of black, white, male, female, urban, suburban, gay, straight reflected the world in which I live who deserve to have our rights protected and our voices heard (yes... we... can!).

I must say that McCain's concession speech was gracious, well-intentioned and inclusive - refreshing...

And as I go to bed, the electoral vote numbers read Obama 338/McCain 156 (with Montana, Missouri, Indiana and North Carolina still pending) - it is heartening, it is gratifying... and it is ultimately validating... <3

P.S. Did you see the Google logo yesterday? - priceless!

SONG: The Party's Over by Eliza Gilkyson (scroll about 1/4 of the way down)

BOOK: Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life by Byron Katie, Stephen Mitchell

POEM: Let's Remake the World by Gregory Orr

Let's remake the world with words.

Not frivolously, nor

To hide from what we fear,

But with a purpose.

Let's,

As Wordsworth said, remove

"The dust of custom" so things

Shine again, each object arrayed

In its robe of original light.

And then we'll see the world

As if for the first time.

As once we gazed at the beloved

Who was gazing at us.

QUOTE: "The wheel of change moves on, and those who were down go up and those who were up go down." ~ Jawaharlal Nehru