OBA-MAMA

Ok, so we're really slow getting this one posted... The evening of Monday November 3 (the night before the election for those of you whose lives do not revolve around Election Day), Barack Obama came to UNC Charlotte. Despite my professional and personal interest in politics, I rarely go to rallies because they are a huge waste of time. You have to wait in huge lines, the candidates are always really late, you can barely see them and they say the same things you've heard many times on TV. But when the next president of the United States is showing up on YOUR campus, 4 measely miles from your house, on the night before the election, you really do have to go--to avoid kicking yourself in butt for the rest of your life out of regret that you had the opportunity and didn't go, if nothing else. And, when you have a child, you want to be able to tell them, "You were there when..."

So T left work after her early afternoon meeting and we all went to campus. On the way, we told C he was going to see Obama and tried to get him to say it. The closest we got was Obamama, which to C was probably like saying Oh Ba (dad) Mama (mom), which wouldn't make a whole lot of sense, but his parents often ask him to do things or say things that don't make any sense.

I expected long lines when we got to campus but I didn't expect the tremendously long lines we found. Fortunately, we found colleagues from the poli sci dept and were able to jump in line with them. (I had tried to get VIP tickets earlier in the day from the university PR dept, but despite all the media work I do for them, they put me in my place and told me I wasn't really a VIP. Humph!) Anyway, the line was probably about a mile long--so by skipping in line, we only had to go about half a mile. And then it started to rain. And once we got to the field in which the rally would be held, it started to pour. And, of course, Obama was an hour late, so we had to stand there in the cold rain just waiting for something to happen and wondering at what point we should cut our losses and save our child from pneumonia. T and I put C on the ground--much to his displeasure--and made a human umbrella over top of him. It's all part of the story right? Getting drenched just adds to the adventure. And by the time we're 60 and telling the story, there will have been flooding, trees splintered with lightening, and Republicans wailing for forgiveness for having voted for W. See, it gets more interesting every time I tell it!

Let's review. I hate rallies because there are too many people (Yes, there were!), you have to spend way too much time at them (Yes, we did!), the candidates are always late (Yes, they are!), you can't see them (Yes, we could see a little hand motion waving when he first appeared on stage, then he disappeared into the background of people and signs behind him. We were about 300 yards away with people crammed into one another the whole way to the stage.), and they give the same speech you've already heard many times (Yes, he did! With one key exception. His grandmother passed away that morning and he gave a moving tribute to her in the beginning of the speech. The newspaper reported that he cried throughout that section of the speech, but we were too far away to see that. His voice was normal--how he could give such a tribute and not let his voice crack is pretty amazing.) Was it worth going? You're darn right it was! How many times in your life do you get to be present for HISTORY?

And election night was pretty sweet too! I've got to give Obama credit. When reporters asked me during the summer whether he would really pour all those resources into NC and whether it would really be competitive, I said he would be wasting his money. As it turns out, he had plenty of money to waste, but in this case, it paid off. And Elizabeth Dole lost to a Godless American. So North Carolinians voted for an atheist and a Muslim anti-christ in the same election!? Wow, the Bible Belt sure ain't what it's cracked up to be. Times they are a changin'!

Here's a great picture of C and me at the rally. Gotta love C's natural smile in this photo. Did I mention we were really wet?

Gotcha Day! Our first anniversary

Gotcha-Day! It's been one year already...how time flies... (I'm stalling to think of another cliche to work in here...)

We went to Lang Van tonight to celebrate with Vietnamese food. When we got home, we gave Colin his first Gotcha Day presents that we collected in Vietnam: some sandals and a stuffed toy rooster (he was born in year of the rooster) from the Sapa region of Vietnam, made by the Hmong. A photo of Colin and said rooster should appear at the end of this post. We then watched videos of our trip last year. Colin was interested in the parts in which he starred, not so much interest in the sections without him. But I got some exercise being chased around the house by him during those sections.

Last night was our first Halloween. Colin wanted to go as a dinosaur--that would be the other picture--and we found a bright green dragon costume for him (Go Green Dragons! Wow, I haven't said that in a really, really long time. That was a "shout-out" to all the Lewisburg High School graduates in the audience. "Shout-out!?" Now I'm sounding like Sarah Palin, you-betcha. Yikes!) The costume cost more than all of my Halloween costumes combined. He had a good time walking throught the neighborhood with his friends N&N (cue picture of N and C trick or treating together). Both T and I went along since there weren't many kids out when we left, so we could both enjoy his visits with the neighbors. Then I returned to the house to pass out candy. C joined soon after and took over candy duties. He kept his costume on and seemed to enjoy giving candy away as much as he did recieving it. I don't think we had as many trick or treaters as in past years (and T got a lot more candy) so now, when combined with C's haul from Halloween and "trunk or treat" at church the previous week, we have lots and lots of candy.

Oma and Opa were down last week and we all had lots of fun. It was a different kind of visit with them since we didn't actually go anywhere or see anything. Yet somehow the 5 days went by very quickly. Time flies when everybody gets a turn wearing the blue monster outfit and chasing everyone else around the house 14 times a day.

We had our first parent-teacher conference with his pre-school teacher this week. C is doing very well in everything, including math. He gets that from T, not me.

Now go vote!