HOLY SHIT, WE WON!!!

THANK WHATEVER GODS MAY BE, BARACK OBAMA IS GOING TO BE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA! HE'S THE PRESIDENT-ELECT! IT REALLY HAPPENED!!

Oh my goodness. It's stupid o'clock in the morning, I've stayed up the entire night to watch with mu knuckles in my teeth, hoping against hope that we wouldn't screw this up. Hoping so freverently, so terrified that it would all go down in flames. That my poor, beleaguered. bleeding country wouldn't be able to overcome the years of fear and manipulation and misguidance and abuse-- but somehow, oh, somehow...

Danger Muffin and I hosted an Election Night Party at the Abode, and we had a regular grab-bag of nationalities present. The dedicated Election coverage kicked off on the BBC at 11:00 pm, and I hunkered down on one end of the leather brown loveseat and bared my poor little soul to the exit poll results. At one point, D-Muff had her laptop, I had mine and an Aussie friend had hers out as well, all of us monitoring different news-network websites, searching for different calls, calling out percentages, waiting for television to tell us how it all unfolded.

There were hot dogs and hamburgers and two delightful apple pies as made in our postage-stamp kitchen by D-Muff herself. All of this lay mostly forgotten on the table as the points finally began to break in Obama's favor, steadily rising in in the face of the once-solidly republican south. Could it really be so?

Everytime a state was called for Mr. Obama, we actually cheered. In our tiny flat in northern Scotland, we tuned in and tensed up. I watched with disbelieving eyes as the point count crossed the line of demarcation, the victory line-- but years of watching these fiascoes unfold had taught me all about concession calls and how bitter and long these things will sometimes be.

The bbc cut to McCain's speech, not a word about a phone call being made. "My friends, we have -- we have come to the end of a long journey. The American people have spoken, and they have spoken clearly. A little while ago, I had the honor of calling Senator Barack Obama -- (boos) -- to congratulate him -- (boos) -- please -- to congratulate him on being elected the next president of the country that we both love."

Oh. my. god.

Really? REALLY? You made the call?!?! It's true-- you've recalled that spark of fairness that first endeared you to me all those years ago when you were sensible and moderate and not shackled to the religious right and sponsored a bill against torture!! You're not going to drag this out because you can't pallate loosing after such a long fight. You really are putting the country first.

"Tonight -- tonight, more than any night, I hold in my heart nothing but love for this country and for all its citizens, whether they supported me or Senator Obama -- whether they supported me or Senator Obama, I wish Godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president."

This was the first time in the night that I started to cry. I think this might have alarmed the Englishman seated on the floor to the right of the sofa, but I was pretty far past caring.

The bottom banner on the screen shifted to MCCAIN CONCEDES. The Aussie confirmed that Fox News had shat itself and was no longer reporting anything on its website. Gore Vidal made us all laugh and I waiting for what I knew was soon to be coming from Grant Park.

And then it happened. He took the stage. I gripped the pillow in my arms and stared through the shimmer I couldn't rub out of my eyes.

"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer. It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference. It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.
We are, and always will be, the United States of America."

Right about there was where I began to cry in earnest.

"The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you, we as a people will get there. "

And sitting here, at 6:30 in the morning, I can tell you now, on a gush of expelled air and a sniffle I can't hide, that we as a nation have dared to hope. We can hope.

I can hope.

Thank you, Mr. President(Elect) for one of the best nights of my life.