Motion to Slay

I had planned on sitting down and really thinking about what I would write before hopping on my laptop. But while I was contemplating my words over my blueberry muffin and coffee, I realized I would be sitting and thinking for a long time, and within that time, the raw emotions I’m feeling now may wane and I don’t want that to happen. When the Associated Press called Pennsylvania, I was doing a makeup look. I got a text from my cousin, saying Pennsylvania went blue and I stopped—mid-wing—ran out to the living room and literally jumped up and down. Ryan just looked at me for a few moments, because I couldn’t get the words out. I must have looked like an angry monkey, jumping up and down and wide-eyed. I screamed, “PA IS BLUE!!!” He cracked a big smile. I literally *frolicked* back to my makeup table and downloaded all of the songs the collective Tik Tok had designated as pro-Biden/anti-Trump/blue I could find so I could listen as I completed my very blue makeup look. 

When the Associated Press called Biden…

…

You know, you don’t realize how much stress you carry on your shoulders until what is causing it is removed. I cannot put words to the feeling of relief and joy after I knew that fascist would no longer terrorize this country, other than to say I had an overwhelming urge to grab all of the blue things I had in my house, drive downtown and just DANCE in the streets. 

As it happened, millions across the country had the same urge. 

When I finally settled down for the evening, scrolling though my For You Page on Tik Tok, it was flooded with celebrations in the streets. People laughing, dancing, popping Champagne, embracing, waving Pride flags, and Biden flags, and Black Lives Matter flags, singing…

You guys. 

I. Could not. Stop. Crying. 

Everyone is so happy. And it has been four long years since I have seen people so goddamn happy. But it’s not just that WE THE PEOPLE extricated a corrupt authoritarian from OUR Whitehouse. It’s not just that our country had unprecedented record voter turn-out. It’s not just that the younger generation was SO inspired to participate in the democratic process. 

No. 

It is that all of these things lead to THE FIRST FEMALE VICE PRESIDENT. The first female BLACK Vice President. 

Madam Vice President. 

Madam. Vice. President. 

All of the little girls in the United States of America who saw Kamala Harris win the vice presidency can now without question be assured that they will not be stopped from attaining the highest positions of power they can in this country. The United States is no longer an outlier in the free world. We are on the path to regaining our place of respect in the world. 

Indeed, the world celebrated with America yesterday. 

Church bells rang out in France.

Fireworks exploded into the skies in England.

People cheered from their windows in Canada.

World leaders congratulated Biden and Harris, signaling their excitement to work to undue the damage wrought by the last administration. 

I came across this Tik Tok video of someone I follow. Her razor sharp wit and lightening fast tongue are what make her content so entertaining. She is a self-described “army brat,” and proud and out-spoken Liberal. A good portion of her content is clapping back at ignorant comments. But last night, she posted a video that was unlike her others. It was dark. She was in her jammies and in tears. And this is what she said:

And I. Fucking. Lost it. 

I lost is because for four years, I could not bring myself to look at the American flag with anything other than contempt. We have a flag mount on our house—which house was purchased just after Cinnamon Hitler was elected. Ryan said, when we moved it, that we could buy an American flag. And while I smiled and said, “Yeah. We can do that,” my heart was not in it. For four years, that man raped America. He inspired hate and intolerance. He emboldened violence and ignorance. He gave his blessing to greed, selfishness and callousness. And his followers took OUR flag and used it as a symbol of support for this traitor and I could not bring myself to fly it outside OUR house. 

After Emily’s post, I saw more and more videos of Americans putting their flags back out. 

So what the fuck did I do?

I went online and bought a flag and a post, for ånext day delivery, so I could PROUDLY wave that star-spangled banner. Because today, as it did five years ago, it stands again for the American people and their collective perseverance to stand for what is right:

Life

Liberty

The pursuit of happiness

Equality

That. That is what this country stands for. 

That is what America means to the rest of the world. 

I gotta say—when I saw England celebrating Biden’s election, I ugly cried. It’s like your parents embracing you for putting the pills down and checking into rehab. That is what this will be: four years of healing. Four years of uniting. Four years of learning. Four years of fixing the damage. 

And I am here for it. 

I wasn’t on the front lines protesting. I didn’t volunteer for the campaign or at the polls. And I regret it. But, I still made a difference. Just like everyone else who filled out that ballot and dropped it off at the box; or who showed up on election day; or who voted early; or who placed their trust in our postal service and but that ballot in the mail…we did it. We were the change we wanted to see. 

Good job you guys. 

Let’s keep this going. 

P.S. BUY ALL THE STAMPS.