I woke up this morning feeling better than I have in a long time. Eight years, to be exact. We've watched an Administration take a surplus and put us into debt. A President alienate the world and place American against American. Men and women who joined the military to protect and serve were sent to a country over a lie. A moment in time where we could embrace the world and stand together against terrorism was tossed away over greed and arrogance. A country that has always fought to suppress the anger and ignorance flourished in the hatred. My heart sank and the only hope that I had was "2008". Hope that the people had finally had enough. Hope that we could put our differences aside to finally move forward and rejoin the rest of the world. I knew that we had a lot of ground to cover... years of work ahead of us. We had fractured our trust with the rest of the world. Somehow we had to prove ourselves. I never dreamed it would be this.

I didn't vote for Obama because he was black. Hell, I voted for Hillary in the Primaries. I wasn't sure of who Obama was or what he stood for. I knew he was better than McCain, but it was another 'lesser of two evil' vote for a long time. Then the entire economy tanked. Obama stood up to the task and spoke of what needed to be done. He had a plan. Suddenly Obama changed from the lesser evil to a pretty good choice. The more he spoke, the more I was convinced. We NEEDED him. McCain sunk deeper and deeper into the smear campaign and all I could see was Obama. The choice was clear. I had hope.

Last night Jake and I bounced off of the walls. As the results came in we reminded each other that each red state was expected. When McCain got the first toss up state my heart ached. All the 'don't get cocky' reminders screamed at me and I just sat there... unable to breathe. When Obama took Ohio I was ecstatic... but it wasn't until California was called that I went completely nuts. People outside were screaming, honking their horns and yelling. We joined in and suddenly the past eight years became a horrible nightmare. We're not out of it yet... but the light at the end of the tunnel is to a new direction. Now we have to band together to make that direction work. YES WE CAN!