2008 Election Moments

W-O-W.
I have had the chills off and on all day.
I have never felt this proud to be an American.

On election day, we took baby girl to vote with us en route to work. We got there around 7:20, strong coffee and muffins in hand, and waited. This wait was accompanied by tag team walks to the swings, the playground, the dog run, and many pick up-put down sequences. When we entered the school Alexandra couldn't roam free, and the wrestling match began, replete with multiple trips to the water fountain for entertainment. Finally, at 9am we exited the school building, having voted. Amid all the toddler agony, we're both glad we dragged her along so that she was with each of us as we voted for Obama. Here's my self-portrait from the voting booth:



The day DRAGGED, but soon we were upstairs at our neighbors (our baby video monitor stretches through four floors of brownstone and our house alarm was on) with my Obama cupcakes. Our neighbors Jen and Mary have friends that are exhaustingly funny. My most lucid memory of the pre-Obama mania was critiquing Tim Russert's son's man-bangs, or, as Jen called them, "mangs." Mangs...my new favorite word. Here's a photo of the mangs. Men should not, I repeat, should not, have mangs. Embrace your receding hairline; mangs are not the answer.



I made Obama cupcakes for our gathering, but we had a dozen leftover. In an attempt to keep myself from eating all of them and passing out from a sugar overdose, I brought them to school in my handy-dandy cupcake carrier. As I was exiting the F train, the train conductor (who was leaning out the window to make sure everyone was in before closing the doors) yelled to me, "Are those cupcakes?" I was late for work and walking at full speed (which is damn fast), but I turned and replied in my best June Cleaver voice, "Why, yes, would you like one?" I walked back to his window, set my coffee and cupcake carrier on the platform, opened it, and grabbed a cupcake for him. "Gobama!" he hollered to me, as he saw my tiny photo of Obama running topless in the Hawaii surf atop the cake. "Gobama!" I replied with a smile. He closed the F train doors and it lumbered out of the station. I love that a cupcake stopped the F train during rush hour. Here are the photos of my cupcakes for unity: