"We ain't where we want to be, but we ain't where we used to be."

The election is over!! My condition has taken a backseat to the history of the occasion. We did our "bit" by serving as poll watchers at the Georgetown section of Savannah - where 280 (!!) prospective voters were in line when the polls opened at 7:00 a.m. Aside from meal breaks, we stayed all day and were favorably impressed by the professionalism of the election staff. (Only ten of 1,200 voters were turned away. Each was promptly intercepted and interviewed by Connie and we were satisfied that there were no improper reasons involved.) Unfortunately, the results at the Georgetown precinct mirrored the statewide results - McCain received 57% of the vote. On a more positive note, Chatham County went overwhelmingly Democratic (thanks in large part to a strong AA voter turnout) and friend Larry Chisholm was elected the Chatham County's first AA District Attorney.

Returning home, after reporting the precinct results to Obama's GA headquarters, we got a bite to eat and, like millions of others world-wide, settled in to watch the national returns. When the words "President-Elect Barack Obama" appeared on the TV screen, we were overcome with emotion - and my thoughts returned to my late father who never failed to cast his vote (for Democrats, of course!), the Brooklyn poll worker who in 1955 insisted that, despite being a college graduate, I had to take a literacy test far across town, and those hundreds of unsung "foot soldiers of the Movement" in St. Augustine, FL who, in 1964, chose to stay in the outside jail pen, rather than promise to stop marching for the right to enjoy the beaches of "America's First City".

The following morning, bright and early, we drove to the nearby Savannah airport to purchase a copy of the NY Times of that historic date.

A few days later, thanks to the hospitality of Sharon Burrell, we decided with our good friends, Cliff and Di Broadnax, to travel to Washington DC - joining about four million other well-wishers - to witness the Inauguration of President-Elect Obama.

What a time to be alive!