Boy What An INCREDIBLE Election Day!

I know I talked about this yesterday, but when I sent this email out to a bunch of friends, they encouraged me to post it on my blog, so here it is. It's sort of like yesterdays post but with more detail.

Let me tell you what an incredible day it was....

I had just finished canvassing all day in Richmond and then my friends and I returned to my girlfriends house, freshened up and started heading down to U Street to get something to eat. On the way, NPR stated that Barack was projected to be the next President. So we started beeping our horn and yelling to let people know what happened. Then we turned down U St doing the same, parked in front of Ben's Chilli Bowl, got out screamed, jumped up and down, hugged people, stopped traffic, danced. It was amazing because when we first started down U street, folk were just starting to hear the news. They were looking at us like we were crazy, then they got it and simultaneously folk flooded the streets, cars were beeping like crazy. People -all of us technically strangers started slapping each other five (even the people in cars as they were driving by), hugging, crying, laughing, waving signs, taking pictures, chanting Yes We DID, O-ba-ma, and Yes We Can! We found a drum circle and started dancing and chanting Obama to the rhythm. The energy was like carnival but w/o the hedonistic aspect (lol). It was celebratory. Then we decided to finally head to Bus Boys to get something to eat...and what timing. We couldn't get in, BUT we got there in time to watch and read through the front window (since it was close-captioned) Barack make his acceptance speech. It started pouring rain, but we didn't care. We didn't move! We stared and read in disbelief. My girlfriend and I had a video camera and recorded as much of the night as possible. (I even have her on videotape, knocking on city bus doors until the drivers would stop and open them for her. She would then climb up the stars, give the driver a kiss, and then hug every passenger on the bus. She left everyone smiling that much more. )

After watching the speech, we went inside a club that was also playing CNN, then some Bob Marley. This is love...this is love...this is love...this is love...that I'm feelin.....We danced some more and when it stopped raining, we went back outside. On a corner there was someone who put their speaker in the window and started spinning some songs. We all started dancing. The songs were fun (mostly reggae and African) and then they played 50 ...We gonna party like it's your birthday... everyone started jumping up and down and then Jay-Z's Swagger Like Us came on and we started shouting swagger like Obama, swagger like obama (lmao). One dude started yelling when I say O you say bama --- he yelled O and we chimed in Bama, O-Bama! Afterwards the music was becoming more inappropriate. I was craving McFadden and Whitehead, Marvin Gaye, James Brown, but we could tell that wasn't going to happen, so we headed to the White House. By that time, there was no crowd. My friends and I took pictures, offered to paint the White House black (lol), offered prayers for the next First family and talked to an AP reporter. Then we went home, forgetting to buy a paper, and barely awake. Needless to say, yesterday, for the most part, I was laid out on my bed, encouraged, overwhelmed and satisfied. If I smoked cigarettes, no doubt I would have lit a couple. LOL. It was awesome. Aboslutely unforgettable.