One sweet dream

When I walked out of the pharmacy at 10 last night, I was not sure who had won the election, or if it had even been decided yet. I had asked several customers for updates, and Obama was winning states, but I wasn't sure what had transpired during the last busy hour of my shift. Then, as I was walking to my car, I heard a firework go off. I knew immediately that Obama had won. Fireworks? For McCain? In this neighborhood? I don't think so.

I watched Obama's speech, and as usual, was fairly non-plussed. His delivery was flawless, but the content was a bit flat. He painted a picture of the sun coming out after eight long years of gloom. It certainly feels that way for many Democrats, but it sort of ignores the efforts of so many men and women who have worked hard to try to keep the country on the right track for the last decade. They're his constituents, too, as he said, but he didn't seem to really embrace them. The map still looks red and blue to me, and though several states went blue that were red, the same divides - rural/urban, religious/non-religious, south/north exsist. We've elected a new kind of leader, but there's a lot of work ahead for us to become a new kind of country.

Still, a country that used to enslave people of color has put a black man in the white house. One sweet dream came true today.