I need to stay hydrated today

[browngirl]

Because I think I'm going to be sitting here crying all day. :)

One of my favorite students came in, wearing an "I voted" sticker. and told me how she went with her parents to vote, and how they got their citizenships a few months ago in part so they could vote in this election. Her family is from Iran, and yeah, that's important to this story.

I managed to keep from crying for happiness until she'd gone to class, because it would have been hard to explain (it was hard to explain to the coworkers who saw me crying). I just... maybe because I'm an immigrant myself, but this story symbolizes the America I want to live in, what today is about for me. I watched her glow, and knew her parents had that exact same look on her face, and I told her, "this country belongs to us, too." Because it does.

Comments

[katyhh.livejournal.com]

Thank you for sharing this.
I'll be sitting here all day wibbling and keeping my fingers crossed. Hope we can find sleep tonight and can resist the urge to stay up and follow the development.
Sigh. It HAS to happen, it just has to ...

[bercilakslady.livejournal.com]

That's really cool. :)

[arib.livejournal.com]

That's just awesome!

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

Thank you for sharing:)

[drglam]

One of my happiest memories of my graduate advisor was Election Day in 1996. She'd just gotten her citizenship, and had voted for the first time in her life (Chile was still under a dictatorship when she'd left).

She was glowing.

[moondancerdrake.livejournal.com]

That simply rocks!

[the-gwenzilliad.livejournal.com]

Amazing. I'm having an amazing day too.

*hugs*

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

I still remember the first time I voted when I was 18 and I felt so special and proud of myself. 1988. Who I voted for did NOT win. :) Then I got a detention for being late for school. Srsly. (our principal was a colossal moron).

[cereta.livejournal.com]

That is truly awesome.

[sophinisba]

Thank you for sharing that. I just talked to my parents a little while ago. They volunteered this morning at a precinct that had a lot of immigrants from Somalia and other countries, as well as Black and Native Americans, a lot of whom were registering to vote for the first time (our state allows same-day registration). They said it was a very exciting time. I am hopeful that this election will be part of a long-term shift to having more of the country participating in the process. *hopes*

And then my dad called

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

[Because I need to not make more posts.]

As I said elsewhere, "My father called me -- my father, with whom I haven't agreed about politics since I was sixteen -- and we agreed that we'd never thought we'd see today, that it's a wonderful day. And then we had to get off the phone because we both started crying."

*blots eyes*

Re: And then my dad called

[petronelle.livejournal.com]

You've now made me weep twice in five minutes. I hope you're happy.

I sure am.

Re: And then my dad called

[peteralway.livejournal.com]

Yay!

[tsjafo.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

[hand2hand.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

[branna.livejournal.com]

*hug* That makes me want to cry too.

[chienne-folle.livejournal.com]

You're an asset to this country, sweetheart, and don't you ever forget it!