Yes we did!

So, anything going on in the news lately?

I am feeling such intense emotions right now, please be patient with me as I try to express what I am feeling. What an amazing night! I had the privilege to watch the election results in New York City last night. It was a bit of a journey as some friends and I moved between several locations in Manhattan.

We started off by getting some free Ben & Jerry’s ice cream (you know the night can only be great after that). We then moved on to Rockefeller Center and watched as Obama got Vermont and McCain Kentucky. As the other states were “too close to call” we decided to go to a local bar and watch there. We were amazed and thrilled when one-by-one Eastern and Midwestern states went to Obama (Woo! Way to go Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan). From there we moved on to Times Square, where we got our photo taken with a lifesize Obama cutout and watched Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart ham it up (No sound though, we had to improvise by reading the captions). In Times Square we got free popcorn and hot chocolate (oh no, is that socialism?!? :). We decided, with perfect timing, to go back to Rockefeller Center just before 11pm.

We got to Rockefeller Center just few minutes before they announced Obama as the predicted winner. Wow! What an atmosphere! The place was packed, but people were not annoyed with being squished in such a large amount of people. No, people were laughing, crying, hugging, screaming. It was beautiful and the energy went on for a while.

We then decided that we wanted to go to a bar in the East Village to watch Obama’s speech. We got in a cab and a friend announced to the driver “Obama just won!”. He just smiled and said “I know”. The driver was courteous and turned up the radio so we could hear McCain’s concession speech, which I found to be pretty respectful. When we got to the East Village, we were greeted by cheering and shouting. Somebody would shout “Obama!” and the cheers would reverberate down the street, like we were doing the wave at a baseball game. All the people on the streets were filled with joy. It was so amazing to be a part of!

We ended up watching Obama’s speech in a bar, and saw many people, myself included, tear up with his words. More hugging and shouting ensued, and then quickly turned to dancing. We decided to finally head home around 2am, but were slightly derailed when we were told that we had to go to Union Square just then. We did and saw a few hundred young people dancing/screaming/chanting in the square. There wasn’t any violence or even ill will. The environment was positive as people chanted “Yes we can! Yes we can!” (even when one guy started chanting “Let’s get naked! Let’s get naked!” to which I replied “You go first! You go first!” but he didn’t and no nudity ensued). It was a picture of the role young people played in this election and how Obama motivated this group.

I got about 3 hours of sleep last night. I am feeling a lot of things, but tired is not one of them. I’m sure that will change. I have gone back and forth with pure joy, relief, and sentimentality. One minute I’m laughing, the next crying. But, it feels so good. Because I am filled with hope, and that hasn’t happened in about 8 years. I am so glad that I got to be part of such a historic moment. Now I can look back on it one day and say, what an event! I was there! Yes we did!

Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope. That's the true genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we've already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow. - from Barack Obama's speech last night