My cup runneth over.

On the night of the most incredibly exciting and historic election of my lifetime, I ended up sequestered away in my dorm room listening to BBC 5 Radio and switching compulsively between coverage on nytimes, washingtonpost, cnn, msnbc, bbc, and indecision2008, searching for updates and crossing all my fingers and toes for a victory that I knew wouldn't be certain until well into the next day. But by 2:40 in the morning - much earlier than I had expected and much to my glee - several networks had called both Pennsylvania and Ohio for Obama. Even my home state of North Carolina looked like it was going to swing blue for the first time in decades. It seemed safe to go to sleep, and indeed it was (if this pilfered photo doesn't say it all, I don't know what does).


Today I woke up to something that felt a lot like Christmas. I brushed my teeth while listening to Obama's acceptance speech, during which I cried just a little bit into my toothpaste. I put on my wellies and long underwear (it was a very cold and rainy morning, and we were headed to Beacon Farm - an idyllic place just outside of Leicester that is run on 100% renewable energy and is trailblazing technological developments in fuel cells, hydrogen power, energy storage, and alternative fuel generation; where cows push a simple pump with their noses when they are thirsty in order to pull water from a local stream - saving electricity and protecting the native trout and crayfish populations from trampling), and embraced a day of obvious American-identifiable-ness by wearing my Obama t-shirt over the whole ordeal. When I hopped on the rented minibus that would take us on our lovely field trip, I was met with an enthusiatic cheer from my classmates at the sight of my Obama shirt, the victory it implied, and my obvious euphoria. We all went out after class and had a few pints of Guinness to celebrate, what feels like to me, A Brand New Day, and a brand new America. Today was a good day.

And even though I was a bit upset that I couldn't celebrate with everyone back at home, or stay up all night watching the results roll in, or take part in all of the amazing door-knocking and phonebanking and voter registering and GOTVing that made this incredible thing happen, what I found myself wishing for most was that my mom had gotten to see it all. She would have simply LOVED it, and she would have made an adorable Obama Mama. But it was still a very, very good day.

So thank you - to all of the people who made this happen. Friends and family and colleagues back home who voted, and asked their friends and neighbors to vote, and worked tirelessly for months and never let up until the last vote was in, and made this all possible. We are all in your debt. And yes we did.