The Mass Agree Part 2

The Mass Agree Part 2

I'm nearly a week late, but...so what? It isnt old news. Here we go.

It was very sunny, very bright, and pretty warm outside. Pretty warm for a November temperature, most definitely as weather here in Chicago tends to go through some pretty major temperature changes, oftentimes dropping from seasonably warm weather (mid 60s and above) to blink-of-an-eye drops. This is pretty common 'round these parts. We're all used to it.

However, today...was just a bit different. Today, the sun shone brightly, radiating over the heads of everyone outside, and put a little extra pep in everyone's step. Today marked an odd start to November. Today was Election Day.

Despite the birds that were singing louder than usual, the happy-go-lucky expressions etched across everyone's faces, and the seasonably warm weather, on the inside, while everyone appeared to be in good spirits, people were really nervous. Very nervous. Today was Election Day.

And it wasn't just any Election Day. Today was the official Presidential Election Day which would help to determine who would help to run the reigns of a now troubled country. At no point in this country's history had Election Day been so important. And it wasnt because the current president had run the economy into the ground and below but also because...whoever won the presidency would surely be marked in history.

The United States, known for its vast historical background that revolves around a 400+ year run with the enslaving of Africans now had an African-American candidate running. On the other end, the typical white male...with a White woman as his 2. Either way the race had went, history was no doubt to be made.

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On Election Day, I woke up from my sleep amazingly refreshed. For the past week, I had been severely sleep deprived, staying up too late and having to rise to work too early. At around ten o'clock every night, I was always tired, but...I couldnt get to sleep. And if I did? I was sure to awake at the middle of the night to write, read some more of one of the books I am working on, grab a drink of water, go to the bathroom, or talk/text on the phone, or....etc. Insomnia sucks.

But on Election Day? You'd think I got my usual eight hours of sleep and had breakfast to boot. In reality, I didn't get to sleep until around midnight and popped up at around 3am looking in my closet for what I already knew I was going to wear for the Big Day, and signing onto facebook, changing my status to: Mal really needs to take her ass to sleep...but she can't because she's too busy worrying about what she's going to wear for the Big Day. Or something like that.

I was too damn excited. That's for sure.

I took pics, prayed, and held onto a hidden worry all day about the possible results of the Election. At 7 o'clock, the first polls would close and the official count down would start for the Electoral College. I kept this in my mind all day long, looking at the time constantly and becoming silently annoyed with how slowly time seemed to creep forward. For me, 7 o'clock could not get here soon enough.

Work for my company let out at 1pm because we expected heavy traffic in downtown Chicago for the rally held at Grant Park, which is about 5 minutes away from my office by car. By the time 1pm hit, several streets were already closed off for the event that expected to start at 8pm. One of my homies, Randy had asked me to come join him and his son at the rally, but when I looked online for tickets, they were unsurprisingly all sold out. He (Randy) didnt have a ticket either but still wanted to go. As for me? As soon as I got off at 1pm and headed back to my area in the Wild 100s, I couldnt really see myself turning back around in all that traffic. Ugh! So I passed. And promised to watch the rally intently on my screen.

A few hours later, I was at my aunt's house. My aunt had organized a small watch party and after doing some minute running around just to pass the time (I was anxious as hell, y'all), I finally sat and watched the results slowly pour in.

[brief sidebar]

Everyone knows that Obama is my president and that I've been putting him into existence since the beginning of October. With all of the scandals and the information that came out about Palin at the last minute, making voters actually swing from dedicated Republicans to a Barack vote, my worries had actually ceased and a huge part of me wondered just why we had to wait until November 4th when it was soooooooo obvious who would be victor. However...when November 4th came, I'll admit that I humbled myself. Fast. I grew nervous (but not too nervous) and started praying more that day than I have for anything. Ever.

[end sidenote]

I really enjoyed watching this election day unfold on the tv screens. With every state that we (Democrats - Obama - Blue States, duh lol) won, I sent a mass text out to about 7 people at a time. I was waaaaaaaayyy too excited. One of my male homies kept asking me to come over to his place for his watch party but I didnt see a point in that and declined about 4 times. About an hour into the watch, one of my homies texted me to meet her at a bar about 7 minutes away. We text back about the plans and I tell my friend to text or call me when she finally gets home (she was on her way back from church and wouldnt be home for about a half hour).

At about 9:25pm/cst, I decided to head towards the bar. I really didnt want to leave my watch party but I left in order to keep an obligation to my friend and the results that had Obama in the lead (180-75, I believe) were moving very slowly. I wasnt worried at this point. Not at all.

I get to the bar, find my friend, and we wait outside. In a long line. As stupid as it was for me to leave my party to go to a bar just to wait in line, it was even more idiotic for me to stay in said line for about 10 minutes, to which case the line never moved. All within that time, I'm shaking now, texting people and asking them what the score was like it's a Lakers v. Celtics Championship game.

A minute after I send the text out...literally ONE minute after I send the text out, people in the line go (in unison), "YAYYYYYYYYY!!!!" My face, now blank, goes, "what happened?" I had just read a text from my friend Joy who reported the same tally of electoral votes that there were when I left the house about 20 minutes before.

"OBAMA WON!!!"

I wanted to shout and get completely out of character but....I didnt. My homegirl and I just left the line, said we'd talk later, got in our cars, and went back to our homes.

As soon as I get in the car, I call my homie Ronnie and was way too excited. He didnt seem all that impressed.

It was then that I noticed my Cool leaving me. Right at this exact second.

As soon as I get off the phone, my phone immediately starts blowing up with calls. One of them was Jen. As soon as I answered Jen's call, "AHHHHH HE WON, GIRL!" was all I could say. I had been at a stop light and dancing in my car to a song I dont even remember now. All I know is...Obama won. And I was very quickly losing my mind.

When I get back to my aunt's house, my aunt and my grandmother were on the phone with my mom. I was on the phone with Joy. It was all too much. The excitement got the best of me and I got off the phone....and cried. When Obama won PA, I cried a little. But this? This was different. I looked at my 80, going on 18 year old grandmother who sat comfortably talking to my mother on the phone about everything, while she wiped tears of joy from her face. She has told me so many stories of her own bouts with race that she's experienced and seeing the first African American president (mixed or not) is something out of a dream. As soon as I saw her and her reaction, I immediately wished that my other grandparents had seen such an achievement. My grandmother is the only one left and this was huge for her!

I knew right then that I may not be able to write at all the next day. The feeling was incredibly surreal.

And as usual...I couldn't sleep. I was too excited and I needed to make sure that this was real. I couldnt believe it. We have our first African-American President of the United States and............the mass agreed.

Part 3 Coming Soon....