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| At my birthday party |
I realize that I post less when I am trying to process the world. I think it's because I generally share thoughts on this blog after I have made sense of things, as opposed to when I am still working through them. The problem lately is that there's just so much going on that I am still trying to process that my writing cycle has been disrupted! So, I decided to write about my recent birthday. My birthday is on November 5th. And like everyone, my birthday is my favorite day of the year.
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| My sons, our future. |
My birthday reaffirmed my faith.
The timing of my birthday makes it interesting though. Every four years, my birthday gets complicated.
Sixteen years ago, my birthday was punctuated by John Kerry conceding to George W. Bush. It was a tough blow considering I had worked on that campaign full time for a month. And learned about the loss in a hotel ballroom full of other Kerry supporters. That experience taught me that mass depression was not healthy. So, I don't do the let's all get together to hear the election news anymore. I choose more private settings.
In 2008, in a home full of friends, I received possibly, the best news I ever received on my birthday. That year, my birthday began with Barack Obama giving his acceptance speech. I got chills. I teared up. And, I was forever changed. I learned that any prior limitations that I believe existed had been eliminated. The world had changed forever.
Despite that, I am glad that the election day changes from year to year. Having my birthday's happiness hinge on the results of the national election would be tough. The 2012 and 2016 elections weren't exactly on my birthday. So, they hit differently. This year though, my birthday was punctuated by the election because of the madness that is 2020.
The difficulties of the years of the Trump administration have tried me. So, I am glad to see them end.
My birthday in 2020
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| Birthday Dinner 2020 |
This year, although the election occurred on November 3rd, the results were still not final by November 5th. (Hell, if you listen to President Trump, they still aren't final on November 28th.) So, my birthday was an emotional roller coaster filled with a combination of gratitude, fear and expectancy.
And then, on Saturday November 7th, the skies opened up. My birthday dinner was scheduled for that night. At noon that day, I learned that Biden had won the majority of the electoral votes and had become the president-elect. That made me so happy and paved the way for me to have a very happy birthday celebration.
The presence of my Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority sister, Kamala Harris, on the ticket, was the icing on the cake. Seeing her as the Vice-President elect, hearing her say, "We did it Joe!" made me so happy and so proud. So, as I sat down for my birthday dinner planned by my husband, I was one year older bolstered by the change in the country's administration and inspired by Vice-President elect Harris. And I was believing that life as we know it had changed--for the better.
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