My Blankee, Barack Obama

I'm having a hard time sleeping this week. Maybe it's the ridiculous amount of projects I've said I'll do and maybe it's the queasy feeling I get when I think of having a president I actually like, or maybe it's that I'm overeating....

Let's get back to the president part. For my entire life I have been politically aware. My parents hosted fundraisers and even ran for office in Wisconsin. Those episodes alone should have scared me off. Instead, I became an independent. I voted for losers. Almost always.

Now, to have a president whom I supported and who actually seems to have a plan that I can get my head around. It's makes me uneasy. I'm uncomfortable in this place. I have no bearings. I'm like a child.

One thing that brings me comfort is my signed copy of Obama's "Dreams from My Father". Mark recently dug it up. My friend Jane had invited me to a Senate fundraiser for him, I think, and I got a signed book. Who knew one day it would become a valuable collectors item? To date it's worth $250 on ebay. But I'm not selling mine. I'm holding on to it like a blankee. My feeling is that anyone who could write candidly about his childhood, has come to grips with it and has moved on. He's baggage free and ready to rock this world.

And the few times we did meet, well, I have comfort in that too. Because I have never been in the room or at a rally with any other president in history. But I have seen live, spoken to, known many friends of, and seen transform like butterfly, Barack Obama. He's a known quantity, like my blankee.

OK, I think I can get some sleep now.