The American Dream

I was greeted this morning with an email from friends in Barcelona congratulating us on our new president. I felt so happy, so proud that we did it. Throughout the day I got several more congratulations from Catalonia and England. I realized how much the rest of the world has been on tenterhooks, right along with us.

Later I was listening to NPR and they were talking about Obama's upcoming agenda including universal healthcare and energy independence and I just had to smile. Imagine fighting for universal healthcare and energy independence! There was an interview of folks in a restaurant in Chicago where a man said this was the most important event since Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Everyone was happy.

I am happy. As I wrote my Catalan friends, this is the America that inspires me. The America where you can follow your dreams. Where you can do crazy things like have a cow and pigs, carve gourds, and write computer books.

And even though I don't fully believe in the American Dream, sometimes it works anyways and makes people believe they can follow their dreams. Which is almost as good, because believing is half the battle. If you try, you're that much closer to making them come true.

Mostly though, I am so happy for my children, who were able to witness our country, our whole country, voting for the candidate who inspired them instead of making them afraid.