NUMB. That is the best word to describe the way that I feel right now.

I am not shocked at all that Barack Obama is now our President-Elect.

Yet and still, to hear Fox News call the election for Obama at 8pm PST, to know that a Black (or should I say Biracial) man WILL be the 44th President, to see a Black woman as First Lady, was just surreal…

It is a moment that many did not live to see, and many others never believed that they would.

For that brief moment, I did not think about the fact I don't agree with ANY aspect of President-elect Obama's platform.

For that brief moment, I was quite elated…wishing that all of our citizens, who’s ancestors were oppressed, reviled and denied their rights due to the color of their skin, who lived thru segregation & all its horrors, could see this moment and rejoice in it as well.

Does this change how I feel about my country? Absolutely not.

I love and am proud of the United States of America, and it did not take her electing Obama for me to feel that way...for MANY OF US TO FEEL THAT WAY.

For those who say that they are "now" finally proud of America—I find myself torn. Almost as if you are not deserving of the bounty and rights that she bestowed on you to BEGIN with...

We should always be loyal to our nation, our Constitution and our ideals—no matter who occupies the Oval Office.

And for now, I will try to relax.

As I wait for President-elect Obama to be sworn in, I hope against hope that those in my own party are wrong.

I hope that he does NOT bring radical change to our nation; I hope that he keeps us secure at home as President Bush has (which, despite your unequivocal hatred of the man, NO ONE can argue with), and I hope that he governs as the moderate/centrist that the MSM claims that he is… I hope he does NOT choose to un-do everything my husband and others like him have fought for.

For if he does, then MAYBE, just maybe, the next four years won't be that bad.

It’s ironic that the true Conservatives are the ones who meandered thru this election as best we could with that 4-letter word…Hope.

Hope that Radical Change would not prevail and destroy the very fabric of our great nation and the ideals which it was built upon.