today's top story

The previous post for today posted automatically this morning, since I wrote it a couple of days ago. But I didn't want to leave out the biggest news of the day, which is, of course, the election of a new president, so I'm writing an extra post today.

I'm not much into politics (much to the dismay of my former government teacher, my DAD!) but I did pay more attention to this election than I ever have to any other election in my life. I've voted in all of the major presidential elections since I turned 18, but never was I more well informed than I was this time. (Mind you, I hadn't set the bar very high in the past, so I wouldn't say I was completely well informed, but I did watch almost all of the debates and followed the campaigns loosely--more than I can say for previous elections).

I don't affiliate myself with any political party, and until I walked up to the voting machine yesterday morning, I still wasn't completely sure who would get my vote. I was literally shaking when I made my selection, because I really didn't know if it was the right choice--I wasn't sure if either of the candidates was the right person for the job, to tell you the truth. Before I hit the "confirm your vote" button, I continued to go back and forth in my mind if that was truly who I wanted to see in the White House. I thought about it and questioned my choice all day yesterday.

I surprised myself last night by being more interested than I normally would be in the projections. And again this morning by tearing up when I heard replays of both Obama's and McCain's speeches last night (no, I didn't stay up to watch past 10:00...I told you I'm not that into politics--I cared about this election, but I care about sleep more at this point, since insomnia is frequently a problem and I need to get my sleep when I can get it!).

I don't have anything particularly profound to say about all of this, except that I'm thankful that I live in a country where I'm allowed and encouraged to have an opinion about all of this. And I'm thankful that my daughter will grow up in such a place (and I hope that she is more interested in all of it as she grows up than her mother was!).