Like just about every other American, I’m pretty excited about the election happening today.  I have a very strong opinion about who I think should win and I feel like the stakes are very high.  I’m on pins & needles waiting to find out which way things are going to go.

But, I also feel INCREDIBLY distant from all of it.  Obviously I’m physically very far away from all the action, but I really feel the distance in time today.  I woke up, took B to school, came home, cleaned the house, took a shower and played with Liam for an hour before the polls had even opened back home — and I was already waiting anxiously to find out what was going on.  All day, I’ve been looking at Facebook, reading prognostications and examining evaluations of the Electoral College possibilities.  Even now, when dinner has been eaten, the kids have been bathed, stories have been read, children are falling asleep, and I am finishing up my day, there are about 3 more hours before the first projection will come in.  The suspense is maddening.  (Worse, I’ve been conditioned to expect a turn-around of less than 24 hours between casting my vote and finding out the results — and I voted almost a month ago, so I’ve been waiting a long time now.)

I may see some of the earliest projections from the “sure thing” states in the east that close the earliest before I go to bed, but it’s more likely that I’ll be in bed before even those states start to be called.  Hard to say whether I’ll be asleep, though — I’ll be very tempted to check the news outlets every few minutes while I try to convince myself the greater good will be served by closing my eyes.

On the plus side, I may know the result (or that there won’t be an immediate result) sooner than I would have if I were in the US — by the time the west coast polls close and get themselves sorted out, we’ll just be getting up here tomorrow morning.  I’m hoping we wake up to an answer — and a good one.