Election Night in D.C.

What a great night... it was cold and rainy and I didn't feel like going out but I had to. Michael and his friends Travis and Vanessa were going over to DC to the Capitol Hill bars to watch the election returns. How could I pass that up? It was going to be historic. And it was great to see this through their eyes, afterall this was THEIR election. The bars were packed to the rafters with both regulars (staffers from the hill as well as locals that live in that area) and folks like us. Michael and I walked into the bar where Travis and Vanessa were; it was mostly democrats rooting for Obama. Travis asks me if I came to watch my party lose tonite. And I looked right at him and said "We are all winners tonite." I think that disarmed him a bit. We all win when the level of participation in the election is this high.

Very cool that we were on the phone with JC when they called OBAMA as the winner. (Michael wished he was inside with everyone, but I was very happy). I cried watching McCain give his concession speech (where has THAT guy been?). Surprisingly, the bar emptied out and no one waited for Obama's speech. We stayed. I wasn't that drawn into it, but I think it was so distracting (and yes I'd had a few drinks) that the camera kept doing those close up shots of people's faces in the crowd and then showing Oprah and Jesse Jackson.

So we finally walk out of the bar and wondered how we would get home. The Metro was closed, and no cabs were around at all. Michael called a cab company and they said they would come pick us up. A guy walked over to us and turns out he was going to back to Arlington too so we said we'd share a cab. Then a couple walked up that was also going to Arlington. Then finally a cab drove up (I don't think it was the one we called). We hailed it to stop and all 5 of us with Arlington as our destination climbed in. The cab driver was immediately animated and with his middle eastern accent (Pakistan maybe?) began telling us about his friend, another cab driver was killed. I think that was the story, it was so hard to understand him. But as he is talking his arms are flailing around. The guy in the front seat keeps saying, ok we're very sorry for your loss, but you need to drive safely and keep the car in the lane. The guy next to me in the back says to him So sorry, is there anything we can do? What!?! like what? So the taxi driver is still all over the road and the guy in the front seat finally asks:

"Do you want me to drive?"

How crazy is that?

We got home safely, left our cars up at the Metro station. Michael spent the night and we got up this morning and called a cab to go get our cars. What a great night.