We watched election returns at a friend’s house and heard most of Seattle burst into cheers just before The Daily Show signed off with the announcement that Obama had won. For a moment, I thought it was just The Daily Show being funny, since sometimes I find it hard to tell when they are being serious. But when we switched to a “real” news station, it was all about the win. I don’t miss the nail-biting cliff-hanger at all.

We watched McCain’s speech and were generally impressed. And we watched Obama’s speech – twice – and I teared up – twice. Caitlyn sat on my lap for the live airing of the Obama speech, and when he said “United States of America”, she turned around to me and said, “United States of America! What was that again?” “It’s our country,” I told her, and was surprised to hear the pride in my voice.

I’ve probably failed at explaining to Caitlyn why today was significant, although she did learn the word “voting”. Since we vote by mail, I’m not sure she knows what concept goes with the word, but it’s start. I never seem to plan ahead for these large explanations, just start in on them and then suddenly find myself trying to define “government” in terms a three-year-old would understand. But I will be able to tell her that she saw President Obama’s acceptance speech, that she was there, awake and paying attention, when America made history. Yes We Can.