We Are Here.

I saw you on the subway this morning, eyes shining, a shy smile playing at the corners of your mouth, walking with a joyful swagger, a defiant bounce that spoke volumes. I saw you on my way out of the local high school where I voted, civic duty done, with relief and anxiety written on your face. I saw you in my social media feeds early in the day: grinning widely in your suffragette white or dark pant suit, as I scrolled cloudy-eyed before fully grasping that today – TODAY – is here. That no matter the outcome, today we are voting to put a woman in the White House.

Sometimes it’s hard to feel the weight of history. It’s difficult to absorb the breadth and depth, the volume of tears and blood and time that have contributed to the fleeting moment we’re standing in. But this morning I felt it. I got very quiet. I dressed deliberately, with care, as if every item of clothing mattered. The pearls from my Grandmother, the black boots that help me feel strong and fearless, the suit jacket that is foreign to my body but somehow *right* – as if I’m dressing for a job interview, my Mum’s green card nestled in my back pocket. I felt the weight of history today, the lives that were dedicated, laid down for this. This is not legend; those lives were real. They were here.

And now we are here, striding into our polling places unchallenged, taking our children by the hand, eyes meeting over the rim of the voting booth, sharing jokes underpinned with tension. I see you, all of you, and today I am bubbling over with excitement and fear and pride.

I see you. And I’m with you. I’m with us. I’m with her.

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