Yes We Did - the actual day.

After I wrote that post on Monday night, I went to bed as if it was Christmas Eve, in hopes of finding a great gift on Tuesday morning.

I woke up, got out of bed, ready to start Election Day with a Freedom Workout, when suddenly, I felt like a terrorist punched the inside of my stomach.  I literally curled up, with an additional intense feeling of nausea, and had no option but to go back to  bed.  

I thought maybe an extra 30 minutes in bed would make things better, but it didn't do any good.  I called in to both of my offices at work to say that I will take the morning off, in hopes of coming in later, and knocked out.  2 hour later, I woke up in sweats with an aching body and an even worse feeling of throwing everything up, which was nothing, since I had eaten nothing.  

I moaned, but couldn't go back to sleep.  I turned on my computer and logged on to NPR to listened to the oddly soothing voice of Steve Inskeep.  I signed on to GChat to see every one's "GO  VOTE OBAMARAMA GOBAMA OBAMANOS NO ON 8" statuses, and I put up my own, which was "Too sick to get out of bed but will go vote even if it kills me".  I got an array of sweet messages, some of which I received on my lover (aka Blackberry), but my favorite came from my dear brother, which were 3 words: "True American Hero".   

I was in and out of consciousness, pain, and sweats, when my sister called (or I called, can't remember), to offer to take me to my polling place to vote.  She became the True American Hero, allowing me to vote, even if I couldn't coherently get thoughts put together in my head.  Cooincidently, my mother's car had broken down, so my father needed to come to my apartment to get my car as well.  My father and sister decided to carpool to my apartment so that my father could take my car, and my sister could take me to the polls and eventually to my parent's home, which was much more fit for a sick person. (My roommate had suffered food poisining - and probably a stomach virus that hopped on to me - the weekend before, along with me being absent most of time, so our apartment was nothing short of a disaster.) 

At the polling place, I was dizzy, ache-y, and vomit-y, but I ink-punched my ballot, and I double checked my vote to make sure I was voting for what I had intended on voting for when I was not a walking Petri dish.  (Can viruses grow on Petri dishes?) 

My American Hero, aka my sister, drove me to my parent's home, where I went in and out of consciousness, in and out of day time TV like Ellen and The View, and the hours went slowly when I was awake, and quickly when I was asleep.  

My sister came home from work, which was I-don't-know-what-time, and we both vegged with CNN or MSNBC blaring, while my sister had last day discussions about Prop 8.  Somehow 8PM-ish rolled around, and I was watching Indecision 2008, and suddenly Jon Stewart said "The president of the United States is Barack Obama."  I gasped, switched over to a real news station, and watched Grant Park images, and people dancing, and Jesse Jackson crying, and I quietly shed a tear because everyone was so FRIGGIN HAPPY!  I got texts and GChat messages, and my lover (Blackberry) was ringing off the hook, and I was so happy.  

I briefly forgot that I was sick, and tried to understand that moment.  Our vote had counted.  Our voices were heard.  Yes, we did, yes we did! 

I listened to the President Elect speak, and I teared up again when he said, "The road ahead will be long.  Our climb will be steep.  We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America - I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there.  I promise you - we as a people will get there." His voice pierced through, and I thought about how I would contribute to help him, our president, get us there to the place where things will be OK in our home, and good honest people will be able to live their lives without government-related circumstances pounding at their doors.  I felt proud of us, and I felt proud of him and his family, and I was proud of what I had done everyday to that point and what I will do from that day to make this country a place we can all proudly call home. 

Reality set in, and another fever took over my body, and even pride couldn't keep me awake or pain-free.  I took some more Ibuprofen, and went to bed without knowing how the state measures did, but with at least a feeling that the country as a whole became unified for those precious moments.  

That was my Election Day story.