In my lifetime

I'm amazed, overjoyed, humbled.

When I was in the first grade, an African-American family moved into town and I befriended the little girl. Suddenly, other children were not allowed to play with me. I didn't understand.

My father told me some people don't understand that we're all human, and that some people thought the color of one's skin determined whether one was accepted.

He taught me an important lesson about humanity -- the first step in a lifelong education.

Three years ago, I went on a civil rights tour that took me across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. An African-American woman asked me what my emotions were as we walked across and I told her that it was a sacred experience. It turned out we felt the same emotions, which surprised her.

I realized I've never had to think about the color of my skin, but she does every day.

Maybe now she won't have to.

As Jesse Jackson shed tears of joy and Rep. John Lewis remembered walking across the same bridge I trod, I realized we have come together as a nation. We all human beings trying to make the world better for our children and grandchildren.

Barack Obama has become more than the next president of the United States. He has become the embodiment of hope.

Maybe now we can come together and accomplish all we can be.

John McCain's concession speech was class personified. It was amazing.

Maybe now we can just be Americans. Maybe now we can come together and work for peace.

The hippie in me has hope again. How cool is that?