"The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera." - Dorothea Lange

Sunday, November 02, 2008

fired up!


Three weeks ago, my twenty-seven year old daughter and her hubby came to the great, swing state of Missouri to work for the Obama campaign. Buzz-phrases at our house have been: GoBama! Fired up –Ready to Go! Party at the polls! (Said with spirit, various hand movements and a lot of youthful enthusiasm.)

It’s been great watching Sam and Abbie at work – trotting off to campaign headquarters early each morning with their laptops, backpacks, sandwiches, water and snacks, decked out in their Obama t-shirts. Sometimes they work out of our kitchen, making calls, organizing training sessions, assembling spreadsheets, finding housing and jobs for out of state volunteers, breaking every now and then to check the latest polls and political blogs.

They are dead serious about this.

This potentially historic election marks a real turning point in their lives, their very young lives. The remarkable “change” that is poised to take place on their watch is invigorating, inspiring, hopeful, important and, doggone-it… absolutely necessary.

Abbie and Sam are both old souls – smart, personable, quirky, funny, creative and unassuming. They fill up the empty nest Eddie and I have inhabited for the past year with laughter, engaging conversation, music, delicious vegetarian meals and a sense of optimism that, well, just makes a person feel good. We are really lucky that they chose to do their Obama-ing in Missouri rather than Ohio, Florida or Pennsylvania, other states that were calling out to them.

Tuesday will be a long day for them. They will be poll captains. They’ll arrive at their respective polling places at 5:30 AM and stay until the last ballot is cast. They’ll come home exhausted, but are planning to pop the cork of a bottle of champagne they’ve been saving for a very special occasion.

This just might be it. I hope so.

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