At the end of a long day

I am proud to say that all the States I've lived in went Obama.

Actually, I forget or neglected to consider North Carolina, where I lived for a short time as an intern. But, now I can add them to the "all" the States list.

It was touch and go until I heard that first, Pennsylvania, where I live now, went solidly for the Senator, and then New Mexico hit the board some time later. I rushed off excited, enthusiastic email to friends around the country, Puerto Rico and Guatemala.

I had not doubts about New England or New York but I did have a terrible pain in my stomach for days that Pennsylvania would take the Republican robo-calls and talking points more seriously than I myself did and would change colour on the big board.

You can't imagine how relieved and excited I was to see it go blue. I talked to my kids before the polls came in and my last call of the evening was to J in Puerto Rico (where she spends half the year)--we were both tired, exhilarated and satisfied.

I tried watching NPR, Democracy Now and MSNBC concurrently, but it was not possible and impractical.

Today I enjoyed watching a tube of General Powell, and seeing the international response to Senator Obama's win.

At about half past two I took my lawn sign downs.

We have a long road ahead of us and many fences to mend. We also have many wounds to heal. I do hope that the McCain supporters can come around to see that if we want our country to win, it will take us all to go at it.

I do think Senator McCain showed the best side of himself in last night's concession speech and I so wish he can find peace for himself now that this race is over. If he is the man I thought he was rather than the man who ran these last two months of campaigning he will serve as a beacon for unity.