Making History

No matter which party wins tonight, this election will change American politics forever. One way or another, we will have broken the all-white, all-men barriers to the highest political offices in our nation.
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All Americans of voting age, not otherwise restricted from casting a vote, will have had a hand in the outcome, even those who did not vote. We not only have witnessed history being made, we've helped make it.

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We make history every day, personal history, made up of the ordinary bits and pieces of living. In doing so, we rarely ever give any thought to the fact that we're historical figures. Few of us will become famous for our history, but each of us is important. Our lives and deeds make up the fabric of our families, our communities, our states and our nation.

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Oftentimes, it is the material goods we leave behind that tell our history - the tools we used, the books we read, our various collections of objects and other artifacts, perhaps our diaries or other writings, and so on. Always, the people we leave behind tell our histories, as well, though they will tell it from a slightly different perspective, depending upon how they viewed us. (I hope those I leave behind will remember me kindly and tell my history with love and good humor.)

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One of the things I will leave behind, treasured as much as my three postcards from Isaac Asimov, and the brass anvil my father made for his father, and the letter my mother wrote to an aunt talking about me as an infant (while the newness of motherhood still held its wonder and charm), will be the sticker I picked up after voting today and the give-away card from my candidate's campaign office here in town.

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Today, I made history.

(Image of John Trumbull's painting from
http://www.ushistory.org)