So here I sit, a few days after arguably the most historic mandate in our times was made: the landslide victory of Barack Obama, elected as our 44th president. I think back to what a long, strange trip it’s been indeed: Mr. Obama announcing his candidacy in Illinois so long ago, a place we lived for 10 years before coming to the East to raise our family; the primaries where I took both my daughters ages 10 and 5 to vote with me (for Hillary, I might add); and all the excitement leading up to last Tuesday.

I like to think of myself as a reasonable adult, in a creative and fulfilling career, raising my daughters with the love of my life and best friend, lucky and sane on lots of counts. But the ferocity with which I threw myself into electing Barack Obama was shocking.

These last months I should have done so many other things — laundry mainly — but any slice of time I could deem free, I was in front of the computer checking up on my reliable websites like Huffington Post, Politico, CNN among others to see what was up in the election that day.

More smears? A new outrageous claim by the Republicans that Barack might actually be Osama Bin Laden? The latest take from Sarah Palin about what constitutes a real American? Some of what I could find was ridiculous, some of it thought-provoking… but baby, all of it highly addictive.

I could not get enough of this election! I read every paper, listened to NPR religiously, even watched Fox News to see what they thought–I’m nothing if not fair and balanced! Long after people in line at the Market Basket were sighing exhaustedly and saying they couldn’t wait for it all to be over with, I had to admit silently to myself that I couldn’t wait to get home and see if the red and blue map on my Yahoo election dashboard had changed in any way. Continue Reading »