Tramps Like Us

I managed to watch some of the delegates actually casting their votes (I suppose that is what it is referred to? Does it have a technical name?) at the Democratic National Convention yesterday. I was using the elliptical while I did this, which will be good to note in a minute.

I turned the television on with more than enough time to see New Jersey's delegation do their bits. And let's face it -- most of this casting was two to four minutes of telling everyone just why one's respective state was just so rad, and then casting 10% of their delegation's votes for Hillary, and the majority to Obama. I thought about seeing if "Mythbusters" was on (because the other day, before Amy made me change it to the DNC!), but then we got to the N's.

Of course, I hadn't watched the whole thing up till this point, and New Mexico kind of stole a bit of the thunder for me. Regardless, Governor Corvine got on up there and spoke loudly about what a grand state Jersey is, home of the Boss and Bon Jovi, the Garden State, where the sun rises on the shore and sets over the mountains. This all got me very emotional as it was. And then? Then John Corzine, noted Hillary supporter, gave all of New Jersey's 127 votes to Barack Obama.

And that is when I started weeping on the elliptical machine.

I have been dealing with Amy watching the DNC for the past three days. Amy is overcome with the spirit of the democratic process, and will weep whenever she hears the words "America," "change," "future," or a Clinton or an Obama says anything at all. I scoffed at her initially -- until I found myself in a sports bra and yoga pants weeping while I pretend ski-stepped.

Thanks to the Olympics, I have been crying on the elliptical a lot lately. It is pretty easy to place blame: the elliptical is where I do the bulk of my television viewing, and the Olympics love to feature heart-tugging human interest stories. (Honestly, I mostly cry whenever I watch a relay of the men's 4x100 swimming relay. As soon as Michael Phelps starts screaming, I sound like Claire Danes trying to bring one of her works to an emotional conclusion.) Colleen has suggested I take a new twist on http://www.cryingwhileeating.com and start filming myself Crying While Exercising. I am considering it.

This moment was broken when New York came up soon after and Hillary made her grand entrance only to proclaim she was asking Obama be accepted as the nominee through acclamation. This was wonderful and gracious, but I was only eerily reminded of Stephen King's The Stand where Harold Lauder marches into the Boulder Free Zone Committee meeting to move the ad hoc committee be elected en toto -- only to serve his own nefarious purposes. And we all know what happened to Harold.

But Hillary is in the past now, regardless of what my mother and the die-hards maintain. We are watching history, we are moved by possibilities, and we are crying on home exercise equipment about it. Some of us are ready to canvass.