Election Night

My wife and I thought the election coverage would go until 10 or 11 at night with not much news. Everyone pretty much knew who would win which states. A few states would be close, but it would take hours to declare a winner. And the commentators would go on and on and on.

So we decided to go to dinner and a movie. We got out of the movie and wandered around town. Downtown was dead. Almost no one was on the street. It was kind of weird, the parking lots were pretty full, but the streets were empty. Where was everybody? The restaurant where we went to dinner was practically empty.

We bought a cookie and walked past a funky little coffee shop. Looking in, we saw a crowd surrounding a tv. We wandered in and saw Obama giving his acceptance speech!

I looked around. On one side of me was a young Hispanic couple. On the other side was a elderly black couple. In front was a couple of surfer dudes. Over on the couch was a homeless person. Next to him was a handicapped person. It was pretty amazing to share this moment with such a diverse group of strangers.

The crowd was silent, completely engrossed in the speech. You could tell that everyone had been hoping and praying for this moment, but everyone was holding their breath, afraid that it wouldn't happen. Obama finished his speech and the crowd erupted. Finally people could celebrate, Obama had really won.

After a few moments we headed off for our car. What was a silent street started filling was whoops of joy and honking cars. Everyone had grins from ear to ear.

The world truly changed that night.