what a week....

...filled with the tension of the election, booking tickets for Swaziland and South Africa(!!), running around on last-minute trip preparation craziness, etc. Figure I'd catch everyone up on what's been happening.

(While I'm gone I will urge Drew to keep y'all updated via this blog, but I make no promises. I expect to be mostly incommunicado while I'm gone. I'll be leaving this Thursday, Nov. 15 and back on Wednesday, Dec. 5th. One nice thing coming and going: I've timed it so that Drew and Rachel can drop me off AND pick me up at the airport. Oooh I can't wait to see her sweet little face when I return!!)

So, on Tuesday, I was a Bad Mommy because I was dying to sit in front of the TV all night and watch the returns, but of course I couldn't because I was on Rachel Duty. So, what did I do? We went to Powell's (grudgingly, on my part), came home and I was listening to NPR the whole way home (and repeatedly shushing my poor daughter, who gave up trying to say anything after a while).

Then at home I turned on the radio as loud as I could and listened to returns after throwing some pizza into the oven and then shoving it in front of Rachel. The moment NPR called the election for Obama, I threw my hands up in the air and said, "YESSSS!!! I told Rachel, "Obama WON!!!" and then SHE put her hands in the air and cheered. At that moment Drew called and we were on the phone for about a half-hour while Rachel gave me the thumbs-up sign. And, um, I almost totally ignored her.

Romney conceded at around 10 p.m. our time, and so I rushed Rachel's bedtime preparations. I refused to cuddle in bed with her, instead giving a hasty kiss and leaving so I could catch every line of Mitt's goodbye. Then I listened to Obama's victory speech. And then had work to do, so I was still typing when Drew returned at 1:30 a.m. We stayed up until 2 a.m. talking, and then I finally pleaded for sleep.

I was a wreck the next day, but luckily got sleep Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. By tomorrow (Monday) I should be nearly back to normal.

A note about Obama: One of my indelible memories is sitting Rachel on my legs on the couch in the living room and listening to Obama accept the nomination. I was with my friend Paige, who has a son about a year older than Rachel, and we turned to each other in astonishment at his oratory. "That's not a politician; that's a preacher," I said in awe.

Rachel was so little when Obama made history -- only four months -- but I will always trace her birth to that election. And that every time she ages four years, there will be an election. Kind of a neat way to keep time.