Making a Connection

Yes, we did. Last night "we" saw a new "we" in America. We felt a new "we," and it was a "we" that we could see and measure. It was a triumph for all of us, but it was a particularly important triumph for our family because we took part in Barack Obama's campaign from the time of his Illinois senate race. And now he has been elected President of the United States of America, and we know that we helped. We all know that our voices and actions matter, and by contributing what we can in time and in resources to a collective effort for good, we can do anything.

I haven't felt a connection like this since the moment after giving birth for the first time. It was a odd suspended kind of moment. A moment when I felt a kind of "sisterhood" with every women who had ever lived who had given birth. That sisterhood faded a bit after a few hours of facing the challenges and responsibilities of actually being a mother, but this brother-and-sisterhood with my compatriots doesn't seem to be going anywhere. If anything it seems to coming into a clearer focus.

I was overcome with emotion last night, and now, after sleeping peacefully all through the night, I feel a new sense of calm and a well-informed sense of hope (expressed by the first movement of Beethoven's Opus 111 Sonata that has been ringing triumphantly through my head all morning).

Yes. We did. Yes. We will.