OBAMA WINS!!!

I heard a quote last night shortly after the electoral prediction was announced that I think will stick with me for the rest of my days. "Only the least gracious among us, no matter what your political philosophy, wouldn't say that this is a watershed moment for America."

We are a part of history and I am proud. I know there are plenty who disagree, and that's okay. Most people have respectfully disagree, I know plenty of them. I'm so sad to see some that we know turn completely ugly over this, but I think it speaks volumes about their character. I know that we will never all agree on every issue, but I am sad to see the anger and hatred that one or two people I know have over this.

We have talked to the kids a lot about this election. Now that Neily is in school, she hears a lot more and had questions. We do not believe in telling our children what to believe, but rather trying our best to explain to them what we as parents believe and telling them both sides of the story. That's why we own a Hanukkah book and still put up a Christmas tree. ;) I've told my parents time and time again that I believe the best gift they gave me as parents was never to lead me down one path of a belief system and to let me grow up and figure out what I believe.

Neily asked who we wanted to win, and we told her. She said, "What will you do if John McCain wins?" I told her, "I will be happy, I think he will do a good job and keep us safe. But it's just that I think Obama will make life better for a lot of people. We think he will make the schools better and change our country." To which, in the interest of full disclosure, Jack stated, "Well, I want John McCain to win!" LOL!

This morning, when they climbed into our bed, we said, "Guess what happened last night? Barack Obama won!" Neily cheered and said, "Does that mean that he will make our schools better?" and Jack said, "Aaaaw, I wanted John McCain!" ;) I told Neily that I hoped so, but that there was something else that was important. I asked, "Did you know that he is the first man with dark skin to get to be the president? Some people used to believe that having dark skin made you different, this is a big deal that America is learning how to get along and see that we are all good people." Neily looked shocked and then looked down at her own arm and said, "I have pretty dark skin!" I didn't even think to correct her, as that was my whole point. Her skin is darker than my skin or Jack's skin, and I want her to understand that doesn't make her and I any different than her and Barack Obama.

And to that end, I SWEAR this will be the end of my crazy political posts! I hope that in this post, it was more clear about how proud we are of our children and how they view the world than what actually happened in the political world yesterday. :)