History in the Making

The polls are closed and it looks like we have a new president! I found myself to be more wrapped up in this election, than I have in previous years - possibly because of the historical significance of having either the first African-American president in US history, or the first female vice-president in US history. Or possibly because I'm the mother of two young children and I am more aware of the state of our country and the issues that we face.

My girls both got to take part in the electoral process tonight -- my littlest one went with Grandpa when he took my grandmother to vote (apparently the voting booth was quite crowded with all 3 of them in there!). And my husband took our 7-year-old with him tonight after he picked her up from Girl Scouts. She was excited to help Daddy vote, and equally excited to get an "I voted today" sticker to wear home. I think her Webkinz Koala was also excited about getting her own voting sticker at the polls tonight! My girl's 2nd grade class read a Scholastic News paper about the election, comparing both of the candidates stances on some of the tougher issues that didn't come out in any of the debates -- did you know that McCain's favorite food is Mexican, and that his favorite children's book is King Arthur? Or that Obama's favorite food is chili and his favorite children's book is Harry Potter (my girl would have voted for him on that alone!)? As she went to sleep tonight she made us promise that we would tell her first thing tomorrow who the new president is.

Regardless of which party you are affiliated with, or how you voted, tonight is a historic night for our country. The best part to me, is that my girls have no idea about the historical significance of the election of our new president - I think that speaks volumes about how far our country has come, and hopefully how far we will go in the future. May God bless America!