Hope is not a four letter word... (part 1)

Now that I am somewhat caught up on sleep, have eaten things other than luke warm pizza, have adjusted to the nonsmoking status of most office places and have consumed less bourbon and more water, it's time to reflect on the past couple of weeks...

I can assure you that this attempt will likely be followed by edits and perhaps entirely new entries, but this, this is a start.

It seems like so long ago that I made my decision, my decision to support the "underdog", the candidate that, especially in NY was considered a long-shot. But nonetheless, I made my decision, and in true fashion I put my entire self into that decision.

The full magnitude of what was accomplished on Tuesday, November 4, 2008 hits me in waves. I am overcome with disbelief, awe, and gratitude. The feeling of hope that situated itself deep within my being persists and I know that this is real and WE did this. Yet, at the same time I am overcome with sadness and a disheartening feeling that, in fact, we are not all created equal in the eyes of Americans. It is hard to separate the gains made in electing the first African-American president and the fact that when the country woke up on the 5th a segment of the population had been stripped of many fundamental civil rights.

My time spent engaged with the Obama campaign will forever remain in my grey matter as some of the best experiences of my life. I met people whose passion and dedication were astounding. I heard stories that I replay daily in my head. I lived experiences that I thought were only possible in movies or books. I laughed, I cried, I lost sleep and ate terribly. I learned. I accepted. I fought. I held true to my beliefs. I experienced love and respect and in some cases I saw the fear that certain segments of the American population felt. I saw hope. I saw excitement. I saw a nation come together. I belonged to a nation that I was proud of.

I've already posted about some of my experiences in Lancaster, PA and Germantown, PA. Read here about my experiences in Germantown, the bus I co-organized. What a wonderful and rewarding experience to have so many first time volunteers get involved.

Throughout this post, I may reference back to prior posts, so...follow the links and keep up with my sometimes erratic train of thought. :)

On Sunday, October 26, 2008 I arrived in Pittsburgh. Ne and the boy picked me up and we had just enough time to head to Mad Mex for some chickpea chili and a burrito (too big to eat in one sitting, but so worth it) before we headed to Holly's for the Steelers game. Here is a mobile blog post on the topic.

On Monday I reported to the Pittsburgh headquarters, office # 5 on my journey through PA for Obama. Things were busy because in a few short hours Obama would be greeting the City of Steel. The phones were ringing off the hook and everyone wanted to know how they could see the Democratic nominee for the President of the United States. It was a free event, open to the public, on a first come, first served basis - the stadium was full.

When I got to the stadium it was already filling up, the excitment and buzz in the crowd was overwhelming. Here are some photos from a prior post. (It seems that it was much easier to mobile blog pictures through all of this :))