Present Tense

The kids were obsessed with last night’s vote.

They started watching the election results after they got home from their after school activities. It was early evening and the results were just coming in. When they heard McCain was up somewhere on the East Coast, there was much wailing.

“Oh, no!” Kennedy cried.

“How can this be,” Aaron wanted to know.

Holly told them to relax. She explained how early it was and got them ready for what we thought would be a long night of returns. Pretty soon Kennedy was aping CNN, talking like a pundit. Aaron was doing delegate math. I got home from work around 8pm. No sooner had I walked in the door, Holly called out “Obama wins!”

And there was much celebration!

I enjoyed the McCain concession speech. I had to scold Aaron for shooting the TV with his nerf dart gun while McCain was speaking. The kids brushed teeth and we all watched Obama’s victory speech.

I like it that we all enjoyed such a momentous occasion together. We never did that sort of thing when I was a boy and that was during one of America’s most tumultuous decades: Nixon, Vietnam, Civil Rights, and Women’s liberation. Not to mention all the Arab/Israeli conflicts.

I remember watching the Olympics with my Dad and brothers and Jim McKay’s plaintive voice saying, “They’re all gone.”

I said, “Dad, the Arabs.” I knew we were Arab on his side.

I don’t remember what he said. I imagine he was trying to deal with the news himself. I just always seemed to want to know more than my parents were willing to tell me. Now I realize sometimes that’s no fault of the parents.

But last night was all kinds of great. All the political questions were easily answered by Dad and Mom. It’s always good when your man wins.