Tomorrow is Going to Be Different. Carrying the Torch Forward.

It’s amazing what a new day brings to the hopes of people. This morning as the sun rose on the eastern horizon with gold leaves shimmering in the warm November wind, I felt a surge of positivity brew inside me right next to the hot pot of water on the stove. The red tea pot couldn’t contain the steam from the water ready to escape its containment and either could my own energy. It was Election Day – an election day with a woman running for President of the United States. The very pink feminist spirit inside of me seeped out and intertwined with the tea pot vapors.

My first stop in my day’s journey was the white church where I would cast my historic vote. I’m known as someone who always “votes pink” for as many women as I can on the ballot no matter what their party to get more women in politics making decisions. Today’s “pink vote” was extra special. It was as if time stood still Elizabeth Cady Stanton was standing with me in the voting booth whispering in my ear. I felt her beam for the work she and other foremothers did for not only today’s vote but almost one hundred years of votes for women in New York State. What a magnificent legacy to leave.

The next stop on my Election Day stops was at an event I was holding in Rochester, New York, not too far from Susan B. Anthony’s grave site. I heard it had been full with women putting “I voted” stickers on her grave. So many women were there the national press covered it. Can you just imagine what Susan thought looking down today? I hope she was beaming too.

As the women who left my event left with yellow, white and purple beads and bracelets to represent the colors of the first Women’s National Party and a gift from me to them, we stopped to grab a photo together. The photo represents the women who voted today in hopes of the first female president of the United States to finally, finally be elected.

The hope is the energy that filled that room. Hope is the steam that came out of us today. Hope is what women dream of for a brighter more equal future for themselves, their sisters and daughters. It starts today. It won’t end tomorrow. We are too far on our way to ever go back. We can look back and thank Susan and Elizabeth but we must look forward and carry the cross and pledge to continue their work in the names of the women and girls to follow us.