Watching History

Today made headlines all across the nation and around the world. High turnout at the polls, excitement across the nation--makes me so proud to be an American today.

I did go vote on election day. I know, I live in DC, so it's pretty predictable. But I was still excited to stand in line for an hour and a half.

Just for a point of reference, this is my block. My polling place is about 100 yards away. I stepped out and had to walk down to the opposite end of my street, go around the corner and then stand in line. This was at 7am when they opened. Everything was moving and organized well, there were just more people than any school could reasonably handle.

Of course on my way home there was no line, but it was also raining by that point and I was glad I voted early.



So the excitement in town last night was unavoidable. People were literally dancing in the streets. Horns were honking, people were shouting "Obama" and "Change We Can Believe In." Whole groups of people just started walking the two miles down to the white house. This was all in the drizzly rain at 1am.


So today I realized just why I love living in this city so much, especially at this time. Part of it was the spontaneous excitement and celebration that happened last night, but also just the knowledge that we are living history.

We are living history in such a special way here in Washington, DC. We get to enjoy it while it's happening. It suddenly dawned on my at about 2pm this afternoon that the Newseum on Pennsylvania Ave. displays the front page of newspapers across the country and some from different nations of the world. The sight was just incredible. Here are a few images.

It's pretty remarkable.