I’m still in shock.

Published by Laya under Uncategorized on November 5, 2008

President Obama. President Obama. President Obama. President-Elect Obama.  President Obama.

I feel like Celie in The Color Purple- my smile is so big I can’t contain it.  It spreads across my face every time I think about it.  Every time I say it.  President Obama.

Even after they called Pennsylvania I held on to my cynicism.  When they called Ohio and Virginia, I started to maybe-kinda-sorta believe.  When they made the announcement, I laughed, and then I cried.  And cried and cried and cried.

I cried primarily for my grandparents.  Each of my parents lost one parent when they were young, and one when they were parents themselves.  My mother’s mother (Granny) and my father’s father (Pop Pop) had an incredible impact on who I am today.  Granny because she helped raise me.  While my Mom worked typical 9-5 hours in jobs that were always too small for who she really was, my grandmother kept me, fed me, taught me.  She taught me how to have compassion, how to cook, how to play scrabble, how to tell someone to kiss your ass without saying “kiss my ass”, when you say “kiss my ass” anyway, how to drink (scotch on ice was her drink of choice), and how to love unconditionally - especially family (no matter how full of shit they are, as she would say).

Pop Pop taught me about the value of education.  He and my grandmother sent all of their children to Morgan State, even though neither of them had gotten past middle school.  He taught me about entrepreneurship.  By the time I came along, he was the owner and operator of “Ocean City Taxi” - at the time one of the only cab companies serving the Ocean City, MD area.  My grandfather ran his business from the head of his kitchen table, sitting in the chair closest to the side door of the house and only a step from the CB radio (which sat on top of the dishwasher).  I learned about management, cash handling, employee relations, and customer service watching him hold court in that chair.  He made me want to own my own business one day - a desire that has never left me.

I called my Mom after the intial celebration, still crying.  She said that she thought this would happen in my lifetime, but never in hers.  I remember sitting on her bed in 2004 watching Barack Obama give his speech to the DNC.  We had heard good things about him, and wanted to see what all of the fuss was about.  Neither of us had any idea that we would be here, four years later, having played a part in electing that charismatic and inspirational Congressman as our next President.

I called my Dad, still crying, and he was crying too (my Dad and I are soft touches).  He said that his parents would have never imagined that this would have happened.  And that’s the thing - neither would I.  I still, on some level, can’t believe it.  I can’t believe the country came through.  I can’t believe that we showed everyone the Joe the Plumber <> America.  I can’t believe we proved that not all of us listen to the smallest and meanest parts of ourselves.  I can’t believe that the next President of the United States looks something like me. 

And what better person to represent America?  He’s a person of color.  He’s multiracial.  He’s educated.  His father was an immigrant.  He was raised by a single mother and by his grandparents.  Barack Obama is America.  He represents us, with all of our contradictions and our strengths.

I hope all of us, on all sides and of all persuasions, take Barack Obama’s words to heart.  We have to work together.  As I tweeted at some point last night, it is officially time for us to stop fucking around.  I took a step: for the first time in 8 years of working here, I’m going to participate in a volunteer oppurtunity offered by my job.  I’ll be spending a couple hours at the Giant Food in Waverly, helping collect food for the Maryland Food Bank.  It’s a small step, but all it takes are a lot of small steps.  There are a lot of us that make up this country.  Maybe together we can make it truly great.