Waiting to Party Like It's 1999

First, a moment of silence for Madelyn Dunham, Barack Obama's grandmother.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/obama/chi-obama-grandmother-madelyn-dunham,0,2249369.story

I've said it often and I'll say it again. Grandparents are crucial in the development of a child. For everyone who has theirs, thank God for it. I know mine were - and one still is - awesome.

Now.

I am so excited. More than I have ever been during an election year. And part of that excitement is for the usual reason - I am thinking my choice is going to win this and that is beyond exciting. The other part? I am just so ready for this thing to be over with already! I am tired of it. I am glad for it but tired of it. I am anxious to go vote tomorrow but not looking forward to the potential wait either. My plan is to be there for when the polls open at 6 a.m. and that means dragging the kids with me since Mr. T won't be able to be with them. But since they don't have school, I don't mind disrupting their sleep. My hope is that I can be among the first to get in there and get done. And then I can go home, make popcorn and watch the news all night long. Know the last time that happened? NEVER!

I don't know why Connecticut doesn't have early voting and I haven't had a chance to go figure out exactly what the difference is between early voting and absentee voting. But it's not fair. Why can't all the states have that option? At least during a Presidential election and definitely for one as big as this. Everyone knows this is huge. Somebody could have made an exception this year. But, we'll forgo sleep and hopefully skip a long line to go get the deed done and then bug people all day to make sure they did they same.

I may have blogged about 2008 back when the year changed. (I have to go see.) But if you don't recall, 2008 was set to be a year of major changes. That's what the number 8 means - New Beginnings. For me, it's one sign that Obama is the pick. Want to know another sign? McCain's latest ad trying once again to make it seem controversial to pick Obama because of who he knew or knows or met on a random street one day. If they are drudging out that old Rev. Wright issue again, they must be desperate. And it also goes to show how out of touch McCain is when it comes to non-whites because Rev. Wright didn't say anything that many of us black folk haven't already heard in our own churches. But what people need to understand is that this kind of racial talk is not about white folk. It's about healing black folk and getting us all to understand that we must stand on our own power and stop blaming white people for our problems. The anger is still there and to pretend like it isn't is naïve. But there is also work toward community healing going on. A boosting of the collective self-esteem. Obama would be a huge boost indeed.

It's been a great year so far - even if I do have to refinance my mortgage this month. (It went up twice already and a new mortgage will send it up a little more. Whoopie! Feeling the effects of that bailout probably.) I think things will end on a very interesting note.

Tomorrow night is going to be like waiting on New Year's Day to dawn. I have seen a lot of major changes in my lifetime already - cell phones, personal computers, the Internet. How cool that I get to witness one that the whole world has been waiting for forever.