We used to call Nora “our little loaf of bread,” because that’s how big she was. Lissa recalled this morning taking her with us to the polls in what must have been November 1988, her very first election. Last night, I was alternately working up a frenzy and sitting in the newspaper office, waiting for results, and chatting with her on IM while she and her friends alternately watched election returns and worked up a frenzy playing Rock Band.

This morning, she wrote this:

I went downtown with friends after watching Obama’s speech and there were literally people dancing in the streets. We cheered and waved and danced.

You know how in science fiction, you get robots who get exposure to humans and end up with feelings they can’t rationalize and they have that conversation with one of the humans?

The robot turns to the human and says, “Is this love?”

And I think I stand with millions in my generation who came home from dancing with full hearts, with a question in the backs of our heads: Is this patriotism?

Because I’ve never felt anything like it before.