Kinda like when Siri says: “Your iPhone backup has been completed,” and relieved isn’t even a word that remotely describes how you feel. Right? Because this is fantastic news. Your photos will be stored, and your memorable videos won’t be deleted after all either because they’re in the Cloud. And you’re just so grateful.
You almost wanna do a little dance. Mom’s 50th birthday photos are just a few of the best, so you do a little dance. You know? For all the times you have the luxury of recollecting some of the best moments with your family on Easter, you go ahead and bust a move.
Sweet bliss. Absolute joy. Except this time, it’s not a few photos or clips you hadn’t lost, it’s your mind. You hadn’t lost your mind this year.
Through the election cycle, through working from home, through distance learning with the kids in the middle of a global pandemic — you hadn’t lost your mind. And you realize you truly cherish that more than anything.
Oh, everyone was feeling it that Saturday, Nov. 7 — just call us the jubilation nation from now on. This was a big win. Upon the news of Joe Biden being the projected winner of the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election, I believe the world felt a sense of relief.
From Washington to New York, to Chicago and California. To little old Easton, Connecticut’s pavilion and field and all of the four people who crowded the area; celebration and unity filled the negative space everywhere.
I imagined people who waited in long lines to the voting booth had the most excitement. I imagined people that are directly affected by current local and state constraints would wait in line forever if they could.
Voting is important and it mattered. It is singlehandedly the most crucial and currently the only process we use to determine whose interest reflects a concern for all people.
So people cheered. Constituents gathered their Champagne bottles, small horns and signs. Cans of silly string in colors like blue, red, yellow and green were emptied into the street. There were no smiles in sight, instead, masks moved up and around people’s faces, like keeping one another safe was important.
Pots, pans and guitars were taking the streets. Balloons were bopping in the air and whistles were blown excessively in Washington, D.C. Brown wooden cooking spoons were swinging in the air and could be seen from a distance. People danced and horns beeped excessively from cars in New York — as if there was any traffic at all.
As if we hadn’t lost everything yet. People around the world celebrated the victory and I’d never seen anything like it before. Commuters in small and large cities were taking photos everywhere.
Was I living through a historical event? Folks in Ballina, Ireland were popping more Champagne bottles than the people of New York City were. The Zimbabwean president virtually congratulated our new President-elect. I felt like we were famous, but for something really good.
The mayor of Paris even tweeted, “Welcome back, America,” and I think that one was my favorite. I think some of our world leaders were overjoyed. I think maybe everyone was sure we were heading back to our roots, and interested in concepts like responsibility and morality, and accountability again. People were moonwalking on concrete.
I wanted to tweet back at her but I didn’t and so I guess I’ll say it here: Let’s not go back to the way things were. Although she was referring to the United States joining the Paris Climate Change Agreement again, we have so much more work to do. At this time, we have better plans.
Let’s reform the accessibility of healthcare to ensure we all can benefit from the necessary care we need. Let’s lessen the financial burden on families and small businesses in national emergencies, like a pandemic.
Let’s make sure our healthcare workers are not overwhelmed. Let’s do better in more ways outside of the election cycle no matter who sits in office because there is power in small wins.
