Si, Se Puede!

I'm up early this morning. Before 4:45 to be exact. Like a kid on Christmas. Excited. Anxious. Tired. Who can sleep on this historic day, eh? Sleep later.

I'm also, what? Reflective. But that's not a surprise.

I think back to elections past that I have had a priviledge to participate in. And yes, my thoughts DO turn to which man I was with, or not with, in thinking about where I was on my life journey. I mean, really, what is a woman's life without the specter of a man, eh? HA

My very first votes were cast via absentee ballot for Bill Clinton, back in '92. I recall spending the evening with that gentleman from Jamaica. By the time Inauguration rolled around, I was had moved on to that exchange student from Princeton. Come 1996, I was in Ohio, in love with a brotha at school in Chicago, and mad because my ballot wasn't received in time to count in California. My candidates won, but I felt robbed of my chance to speak, if you will.

By 2000, I was a grown azz woman (or so I thought), no longer in school, living on my own and able to vote at a precinct for the first time. And the seeds of intrigue with Mr. Baltimore had just been planted. I recall feeling very hopeful about the future, that a new era was on the horizon. That the sun, moon and starts were aligning for a new beginning in love. But just like that election wasn't settled until weeks later, it was Inauguration Day that the fate for me and Mr. Baltimore was "settled" and come election day 2004, while standing in the longest line I'd ever been in to vote, I read more than a couple chapters of "He's Just Not That Into You." This wisdom of the read set in, as I was preparing to move on in more ways than one.

So 4 years ago, after feeling robbed again by the political process, I gave my job the finga, sold my shit, and moved south. I arrived with the determination to turn some red into blue. As much as I love the color red, all that red on the electoral map made my stomach churn, and everything in me said blue could return to the south. Full disclosure here: When I heard about the candidacy of Barack Obama, I felt inspired, but I wasn't a believer from the start. My full intention was to vote for him in the primary, so I could "say" I voted for a Black man for President. However, I just "knew" Hillaryland would sweep the primaries and I'd be voting for her come today. But......

I donated money and time to a campaign for the first time in my life this year. I even went to the Democratic National Convention this year for the first time in my life. I have been entirely attentive to the campaigns this year for the first time in my life. I have been enthralled, engaged and inspired by the Obamas and the realization of the potential for the country and the world. I cast my vote a couple weeks ago in a process that took about 35 minutes in downtown Atlanta. A new dawn, a new day, a new life.....Georgia feels blue!!

And "Change We Can Believe" in is not only a campaign mantra, but is also what I'm feeling for my relationships. I need to believe that what ever is next for me in life, in love....will be distinctly different. Granted we'll have to see what the day brings, but whatever transpires, we are starting anew.