I know there are a lot of heartfelt feelings about Obama's winning the nomination.
I just want to relate a little story of why, as a white, middle aged woman, it means so much to me.
When I was in 2nd and 3rd grade, my family lived in a small town outside of Oklahoma City.
We hated it there, for the most part. We had moved there from the San Francisco Bay area in 1968 (yeah, I know) and it was like moving to another planet.
My dad shows up with long hair, a beard, driving a Renault with a sticker in the window of a peace sign with the American flag behind it.
He got pulled over a lot. The first tap was put on our phone which remained through 8 or 9 years of my childhood and a move to Arizona.
This town was where I experienced being in, and living through, an F5 tornado.
This town was where I learned what the KKK was because they held meetings in my grade school building.
You could not buy vanilla extract on a Sunday because it contained alcohol.
Girls wore bras with their halter tops.
But that's just background for what I really learned living in that town. It was a lesson my parents taught me. It was a lesson I never, ever forgot.
A black family moved into the townhouses/apartments we lived in. Husband, wife, and a little girl my age. I can't even remember her name. I think it was Amy.
My parents immediately invited them over for dinner since they were new and didn't know anyone yet. My mom decided to be the Welcome Wagon.
I played with their little girl and I noticed I was the only one in the complex who did.
People stopped talking to my parents.
Their kids stopped playing with me.
I was upset and didn't understand - couldn't comprehend - what was going on.
The family didn't last there long. I don't know where they went but clearly living in a place where you are shunned was not what they wished for themselves or their daughter.
I have no idea what choices they even had. I just knew my friend was gone.
My mom had to sit me down and explain racism. My mom had to explain to me that a person could look at another human being and not care about their family, their needs, how smart they might be, how hard they might work.
My mom had to explain to me that the world sucked.
Later, I had my own experiences with anti-Semitism (I grew up in a non-religious household), and many, many experiences with sexism.
But that experience from my childhood is in my head right now.
As I watch Senator Obama speak I have tears in my eyes and I wonder whatever happened to that little girl. I wonder what kind of life she had. I wonder if she remembers playing with me and how we used to put a 45 of The Twist on the record player and dance.
I wonder if she has tears in her eyes tonight too.