Did That Really Happen?

One of my favorite series is The Chronicles of Narnia. I’ve been reading the books from this series over and over since I was about 10 years old. One of my favorite parts is when the children return to their normal lives in England after being kings and queens in Narnia. They lived out lives as royalty only to step back through a wardrobe to find that no time has passed at all. It’s always bothered me that they were simply able to move on with their lives and continue being children after fighting battles and providing leadership for an entire kingdom but I think I understand now. They knew they would get to go back. They knew there would be more. They had the promise of brighter days in the future. Sometimes when things are good enough, that promise is enough to sustain you. The simple memory of who you were (even for a short time) is sometimes enough to allow you move on in a life that suddenly seems foreign to you.

The last 3 days have been so powerful and eventful for me that I feel like I just stepped through a wardrobe and back into my old life after living in an entirely different world for a few days.

I’m going to start with the election. Wow, I didn’t think I would see this day. Obama being elected was sort of a shock for me. I never once allowed myself to imagine even the possibility that he could actually win. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever wanted something to happen so badly in my entire life and so I purposely guarded myself against the disappointment of it not happening. When CNN called the election for Obama I was actually surprised. I couldn’t believe it was actually happening and that he had such a commanding lead that they could call it at 9:00. I imagined it would come down to the wire and that I would be up half the night waiting. McCain’s concession speech was very classy and thoughtful. I think it’s one of the few times in the last few months that his true personality has had a chance to shine past his campaign organizers and it reminded me that when this all began I decided that McCain wasn’t so bad. He really does care about this country and wanted what was best for us. I was impressed with McCain’s concession speech and then Obama took the stage in Chicago with Michelle and his two daughters and I just lost it. The tears started streaming down my cheeks. What a beautiful, intelligent family. Obama’s speech was amazing and I have never been more excited about the future. And then I felt something else, something I haven’t felt for years – pride. Pride in my country, pride in my president, just pride in general. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not one of those people that hates America. For all of our faults and problems, this is still an amazing country. It’s just been a long time since I felt like we were on the right track and moving forward with a leader that had the interest of ALL of his people at heart.

“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer. It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference. It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states. We are, and always will be, the United States of America.” Barack Obama’s Acceptance Speech, November 5, 2008.

Obama is going to have an exceptionally difficult presidency since just being average is out of the question for him. He must be exceptional since everyone expects nothing less than for him to change the world. I believe he can do it though. I’m not going to write about any of the ballet initiatives this time since I want this to be a happy blog.



I had company for the election results this year. I’m still reeling from this experience and trying to figure out what happened. It was wonderful, just very confusing.

Last May I presented at a conference in New York. I randomly found out about the conference a week before the proposals were due and managed to put something together and submit it the same day they were due. I was accepted to speak as part of a panel and I made plans to fly to the big city all by myself. I got there, I did my thing and after my talk I was approached by this cute guy who seemed to be nervous. He introduced himself and we chatted for a few minutes and then he made some comment about how he planned on going to an art show and then another presentation and then sort of half suggested getting a drink at some point. I didn’t get that he was asking me out at the time. After I got back to Wyoming he contacted me and we started corresponding through email. I always look forward to getting a note from him. He’s an author, a teacher, an activist, and just an all around great guy. He had been planning a trip to Laramie for years to do research at the AHC and he finally made the trip here. I picked him up at the airport, we had a nice chat on the drive home and stopped for some “Colorado style” pizza in Fort Collins. I was my usual awkward self and didn’t really know what was happening. Was this a date? How could it be a date? We live in different countries. (Oh, did I mention he’s Canadian?) The conversation flowed and it was like discovering your long lost twin. By the next day my defenses were completely down. All of them… and there are a lot. Some of my walls are put up just to see if there is anyone strong enough to break them down, many are products of a past life lived in secrecy, and many are defenses I’ve built to keep from getting hurt again. But it didn’t matter, without even trying, he completely disarmed me in less than a day. I would say that we have a lot in common, since we do – but it was more than that. We just fit together like a key in a lock – two very different items but both equally important and compliment each other perfectly. He slipped into my life so seamlessly that it was as if he had always been there and I couldn’t imagine or really even remember a time when he wasn’t. He was only here for three days but if felt like a lifetime. I’m not sure what to do or say at this point. I’m not sure if this story is over or not. I know I’ll see him again but I don’t know that we will ever have more than what we had this week. Somehow I’m ok with that though. If given the chance I would snatch him up and keep him forever but even if I don’t ever get that chance I’ll always have the time we spent together. Pizza in Colorado, wrangling Sasha, leftovers on my lunch break, a presentation on campus, two weepy old queens sitting on the couch as history is made, the best steak dinner date I’ve ever been on, cuddling, movies, a drive to the airport, a kiss goodbye and not having to care who was looking, watching him as he went through airport security, going back to my car alone, and fighting tears the entire drive home. But the tears never came and they no longer threaten me today. The entire experience has given me hope. If two kindred souls can randomly find each other in this huge world and share a connection this deep in such a short amount of time, then that’s pretty awesome. Who cares what the next chapter is, it’s bound to unfold exactly as it should. Today I’m just going to be happy and hopeful and look forward to the days to come.