Election 2008: Bittersweet, through my grandmother's eyes

I listened to the jubilation in my grandmother's voice to get the fuller meaning of what a black president means.

She recalled when blacks weren't allowed the privilege of voting. She remembered people being spat on and beaten to achieve that goal. She, a spry but waning citizen of our country, never thought this would happen in her lifetime.

But it did.

"What'd that song say?" she told me an hour after casting her vote. "Something about dancing in the streets. If Obama wins, I'm gonna be out there, in front of the house, dancing in the streets."

Still conservative, even in victory.

This was a long time coming for her. She'd long given up on the pipe dream pushed by parents everywhere that their baby could be the first black president. Just wasn't gonna happen, she would say. "But it would be nice," she'd quickly retort.

My grandmother is a realist. She believes in the right person being chosen for the job every time. She believes in karma when the right person doesn't do the job they were thought able. She also believed a black president would come -- when we were right ready for it.

Guess that time came last night.

Last night, I celebrated. Not because Obama had been elected was I celebrating. I was doing it because the election of a lifetime -- one in which I was glued to the coverage, but began to tire of lately -- was finally over. It's time to get back to the lecture at hand.


So I jumped in the bed, curled up in a ball and got my grandma back on the line. She said nothing about the fact that it was a black president. She spoke of the issues on Obama's agenda she wanted to see accomplished, "should I live to see it."

Of course you will, I reassured her. But the day meant more to her than any other in recent history.

I voted nearly two weeks ago, my state generously offering early voting to the masses. She waited to vote on Nov. 4. Not only to make sure her vote counted, but to do it on a day that was special for a number of reasons.

One, she was voting for something she never thought possible in her lifetime. And it was happening on her 81st birthday.