Close Encounters of the Political Kind

I'm so excited to have been able to participate in one of the most historic and important elections in my lifetime. No matter what, history would have been made. If McCain and Palin had won, we would have had the first female Vice President. Now that Barack Obama has been elected, we have the first African American President. (As my boss told me yesterday, he'll be sworn in on steps that were built by slaves. What a long way our country has come.) I had never even voted before I met Steven and now I'm adamant about speaking out for what you think, even if it's only to cast a vote for the candidate or amendment or issue that you feel strongly about.

Since we weren't able to see either McCain or Obama when they campaigned in Colorado, we jumped at the chance to hear Michelle Obama speak at an auditorium just a few blocks from our house. (We usually didn't even know the candidates were in town until they had already been here and were gone. We heard about this rally the day before.) About 3,000 people came out, and we wound up being part of the crowd that had to stand outside. Thankfully, Colorado was enjoying one of its last warm, sunny days so it was actually very pleasant. And she stopped outside to see us first! It was funny to see the stereotypical security guys with the curly earpiece, fancy suit and everything. You could spot them a mile away. She was an excellent speaker and didn't use a prewritten speech, something I greatly admired.