YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN!!!

He did it. We did it. It is done. Barack Obama is the next President of the United States of America. This is our next President. OUR President! I'm so beyond relieved and humbled and excited and thankful. Thank you Lord for letting me see this in my lifetime. Thank you for letting my parents see this in their lifetime. My father is a Vietnam war veteran who knows how it feels to fight for your country side by side with soldiers that you are not considered to be equal with. Then, to come home to a nation that still has "whites only" signs everywhere. What must that say to a young eighteen year old man? You must be nothing...worth nothing...dirt. You can fight and die for us, but, you can't sit at the same tables, enter through the front door, or pee in the same toilet. Going to war does something to a person. Watching your friends blow up in front of you does something to a person. Returning home to a racist nation after experiencing those things does something to a person. My father called me in tears tonight after Barack Obama was declared the President-elect. I could hear what it meant for him to see this while he is alive. I have been in tears all night long watching CNN and MSNBC, and every state that turned blue brought more tears. I am truly proud to be American. I am proud of the way that all different types of Americans came together for this campaign and I truly truly hope that all Americans will come together now and move our country forward. Although we all have differences, our one common thread is that we are Americans. I'm so glad to be able to tell my daughter that I worked and knocked on doors side by side with volunteers that otherwise seem to have nothing in common with each other. I know that this is the right time for Barack Obama to be president. This is the time that was set aside for this moment and everything about it was right. I see so much of myself and my husband in Michelle and Barack. There is something about the way that they look at each other and hold each other that is so familiar to me. I like that the world can see that in them. It is authentic and beautiful. I pray earnestly for their continued safety in what will undoubtedly be a very trying, albeit rewarding, next four years. McCain ran his campaign on fear. Obama ran his campaign on hope. Hope won. Dr. King....this is your dream realized!