The Day After

Since I had voted early, I spend Tuesday in Austin visiting my 7 month old granddaughter, Ana Miranda, arguably the most beautiful granddaughter in the world. I left early Wednesday morning to return to Dallas. Dressed in very casual attire and unshaven, I stopped for coffee at a local fast food store in South Dallas. I found myself standing next to an African-American gentleman about my age as we poured cream. “Great morning isn’t it?” I said.

“Yes, it is. The temperature is almost perfect,” he replied.
“I meant the day after the election,” I offered with a smile.
“Indeed it is,” he said back, “it IS a great morning.”
Before I could say more, he added, “I am a Viet Nam vet and I have lots of respect for John McCain. He is a great man. But, this was our day!”

“You and I are old enough to remember hearing Dr. King’s ‘I have a dream’ speech live, as he gave it,” I added. He nodded assent. “I bet that, like me, you never thought that you would see this day in our life-time,” He nodded thoughtfully and with a slight tear said, “Never in my life time.”
“Yes,” I agreed. Then I added, “I guess you could say it was every American’s day.”
“That’s true,” he said as he offered me his warm, firm handshake.
John McCain is a great man, and I pray that our President elect will become a great President. This morning at sunrise, we awoke to the possibility of being an even greater nation.