Wow, yes he did

(THIS IS A DAY LATE…Hey, it’s been a busy couple of days).

Election night was one of those nights that, for the rest of their lifetimes, people will remember where they were and what they were doing. A good friend of mine lives in Amsterdam and pulled an all nighter at the Hilton watching the results come in and celebrating throughout, sending ecstatic text messages to my phone such as:

“It’s really happening…In our lifetime! It’s our generation, our world, our planet now. The rest of the world really needed this to happen.”

Well said Chris. The US really needed this to happen too – It’s like we can finally see the light at the end of an eight year long tunnel. To be frank, it’s hard to really describe all this as it’s just amazing on so many levels.

When you’re a parent, the future crystalizes for you in some ways that are hard to explain. You instantly feel more invested in the future than you ever thought you could be, concerned about and fearing for what the world will be like for your kids years and decades from now. It’s exciting to be able to look to that future at last with real enthusiasm, something that’s frankly been tempered for the past several years.

Back to my friend on Amsterdam – the level of enthusiasm in Obama’s election worldwide is a mark of the world’s frustration with the Bush Administrations. It’s a sign of a real hope in all that Obama represents, as well as a reminder of the leadership role the US can and should still play.

I spent most of yesterday morning reading world reactions more than anything else. Do that for a couple hours, assuming the vote turned out the way you hoped it would, and you’ll be both fascinated and inspired.

As for that memory of “where were you that night?” I spent the night dosed up on NyQuil in my hotel room in NYC fighting back the cold that I think is finally subsiding. So my story won’t exactly inspire my children someday, but everything else from that night certainly will.