november 4th

i will try to be very brief. there's no school today. my first-grader told me yesterday 'mom, we have no school tomorrow, it's national election day! two men want to be president - barack obama and john mccain, and a woman wants to be vice president!'

sometimes matthew does talk without breathing for a pause.

and so it is election day today. it is raining.

i wish i could go out there and vote. instead i sit at home and watch (the kids) and the news. because we are not citizens yet.

so, upon waking up, i told my 6-year-old that this is a great and promising day.

i told him that we are filipinos, but are part of a great community of nationalities in one great nation, and that we came here to the us 5 years ago because his father and i believed it was in his best interest to pursue a life that we didn't have back home.

i wish i could tell my son about problems besieging the government - about wars and imperialism , and climate issues and economic woes. but he really won't understand. in fact he will get very bored.

so i told him instead about how man first went to the moon, and how beautiful it is said the earth looked from there. i told him that it means we always have to have dreams even if people think they are impossible.

good comes out of good. and the american people are braving the cold and rain today to vote for a president who might be able to change the world. and on this historic, fall day in 2008, i'll leave it at that.

God bless us all!