Everywhere I've lived

went for Obama. I like to think I had some influence. Well, okay, maybe here in Illinois the fact that it's his home state had some weight. But I'm proud of all my states, OH, WA & IL. Thanks for coming through.

I'm not sure what to say in this post, but it's a good week to be in Chicago. (I knew something was going right with the amazing weather we've been having!) We weren't out in the middle of it all right when everything was announced. It's hard to believe that as recently as yesterday I didn't know how this was going to go. Perhaps that is why we stayed in last night. Though once we did know, and I calmed down, we took a walk around the neighborhood. We're very close to it all, right at the south end of the park, so even from our apartment we could hear the honking and cheers. The city of Chicago was ready for this event. We actually had taken a very long walk earlier in the day around the entire park to see what was going on. I have never seen so many cops, so many forms of police vehicles, so many TV station trucks in one place. Before and after it sure seemed like everyone was pretty unanimously happy.

During our walk, which must have been around or very close to midnight, there was so much going on. Michigan Ave. was closed, we walked right up the middle, which was such a neat feeling. Someone was carrying the American flag around. People were doing a pro-Obama cheer on the sidewalk. They were selling t-shirts for $5 creating a bit of a frenzy right near the bus stops. And like I said, Chicago was ready. Transit was lined up and packed along the intersection two blocks up from our apartment. The CTA had people with vests directing people to their buses. Cops were enticing people to cheer for Obama even. I'm really not sure Obama had to throw a party, I think Chicago would've done it anyway, but it sure was nice.

I cried for much too long, when I thought I was going to be able to stop I came out and saw that Jesse Jackson was crying and the news anchors seemed to be on the verge of tears too. I'm all puffy this morning. I have a headache. It's completely worth it. Even so, I'm disappointed to learn the results of Prop 8 in California and the success of similar measures in other states. But I hope, just like last night, we can see change on these issues come sooner than anyone expects.