I really wish I were back at home, enjoying the sweet taste of victory with everyone, but there was something unique about staying up until the wee hours of the morning, obsessively checking cnn.com every two minutes and setting my alarm for 5AM to check the results while everyone back in Wisconsin started popping out the Franzia. Sarah and I woke up to the alarm and saw that big fat check next to Obama's name, and we just started screaming and jumping up and down, probably waking everybody up in our apartment in the process. We went to nytimes.com just in time for his victory speech. It gave me chills as though I were right there with everybody else in Grant Park, euphoric and misty-eyed. I have never been so elated in all my life. I feel so connected with my country right now, amazed at the incredible movement we were able to pull off in such a short amount of time. Indeed, victory like this is the stuff dreams are made of, and last night we finally made the dream come true.
When Obama took Pennsylvania, I text messaged my dad, who was canvassing there, telling him how proud I was of him and his home state. He sent me an email today, and apparently he had tried to send me a picture of all the canvassers and him via picture text message. I don't know what made me prouder, the fact that he was canvassing or the fact that he has become so tech savvy seemingly overnight. He told me he is always struck by how connected we are. It was only 5 minutes after news of Pennsylvania came through that he got my message. I think it's easy to connect with people from home with modern technology, but what amazes me is the emotional connection I feel right now to every American. I am so far away from home, and yet I know I'm feeling the same electric current running through my bloodstream as everybody else. I am ecstatic, I am relieved, I am proud. We done good, America. We done real good.
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