My Post-Election Ramble

Thomas and Max have so much to be happy about!

I have been thinking a lot about what this election means to me. And, while I know that it means a lot to everyone and that everyone has been engaged by the whole process, it has taken up an ridiculous amount of my mental space for the last few months.

And when you texted me last night to say that the boys would never know the world before we knew that the US would elect a black person, it really resonated with me.

To have babies that will grow up at such a momentous time in our country's history feels strange. After all of the disappointments and negativity of the last 8 years, I feel almost stunned at the idea of optimism and hope that pervades the concept of an Obama Administration.

Bringing children into a world where we are at war, where the environment is deteriorating, where the economy is imploding is scary business. It was a selfish leap of faith that things can and will get better. And, at least for the time being, it feels like that faith has been rewarded.

I'll admit that I feel fearful to make such a statement. As though I were capable of jinxing the wonderfulness of now.

With Grandma Ellen in the hospital, I've also been thinking a lot about history. Our family's history... her history. Imagining her as a young mother in South Dakota, with the US's involvement in World War II right around the corner, moving to California, losing her husband and raising two kids with Grandma Liming's help.

Her story goes on and on, an epic of hills and valleys. While we all know that she is unique in her ability to compartmentalize and disregard the things she may not want to remember, the reality is that she has lived through amazing times and this is, happily, one of them.

As a new Mom, it gives me perspective on how much the world can and will change. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. It delights me to think of the momentous times that the boys will see... and to think how the world changes for the better because they are in it.

I also look forward to the day when I can be the Grandma who has lived through amazing days, who can tell the story of how the United States changed when Barack Obama was elected.