“Sokay”

I flew to California on an Election Day. On the way to the airport, the taxi driver looked in the rear view mirror and asked me if I had voted, and for whom. He said, “Aah – a little white woman and a big black man, and we stand with Hillary!” He told me he’d think about me that night, and I him. And in a video that day, Lady Baby wore a self-assembled “pantsuit” and chanted “Hill-a-ry, Hill-a-ry.” Sweet Baby learned to say “Hillary” in her little voice, with a smile. Such a hopeful day.

I could list the reasons I feel sad and fearful at the Electoral College result and the dark possibilities this election presents to the majority who voted the other way, but you know them all too well.

So far we have seen a graceful Hillary speak and encourage keeping an open mind, and an eloquent and calm President Obama setting an example for the transition. He wants it to be as peaceful and orderly as it is inevitable. But successful transitions require a responsible person on the other side of the transaction.

I wrote this on the plane returning from Los Angeles to Seattle, the land below me all blue and ready to secede. After boarding, I sat down next to a woman and wondered, what does she think? Is she one of the majority of white women (53% by exit polls) who voted the other way? But I spotted her safety pin, and she mine.

It was good to laugh in our misery and confusion, be invited to join Pantsuit Nation, and enjoy the third woman in our row, our little bubble, as she chimed in with agreement.

Often when I start these posts I know where I want to go, but not how to get there. This time I started with a favorite expression of Sweet Baby, “sokay,” her verbal shorthand for “it’s OK.” I thought if I couldn’t write the exultant, thrilled for my granddaughters (and grandson) post, complete with a Madam President teacup, I might at least write that somehow it would be OK. But if anything I feel worse now than late last Tuesday night.

This is so not my desired outcome that I can’t think of any last paragraph right now that ends with it’s OK.

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