I’m sitting in a hotel room 9 floors above Grant Park, where Obama will be arriving shortly. The city is going nuts. I can hear the 100,000 people cheering from my room and horns honking like mad. People are even cheering in the halls right outside my door and they are walking down Michigan Avenue cheering.

I even shed a couple of tears when the projection was made. This is such a historic night. My friends, whom have this hotel room, are actually across the street at the rally. They stood in line with their tickets for an hour and half and finally got in a little bit ago. I wanted to be there so bad but I couldn’t take the boys, by myself, into that type of crowd. No way. We did walk up and down Michigan Avenue for awhile which is right across from the park and I did get a nice Obama button. I also saw a sea of Obama t-shirt clad people from ages 1 to 100. Literally.

I can hear the speakers at the rally from my room but their words are garbled so I rely on the ABC news station to show me what is going on. I want to be at the rally so bad… soooo bad, but I’m close as I can be. My boys finally passed out about 20 minutes ago so it’s quiet enough for me to listen to the rally from the hotel window. I’m sure I will know when Obama arrives; the crowd is going to go bizurk!

This night is surreal. It is unreal. This night is simply amazing. Right now the tally shows 306 electoral votes to 145. Wow.

Grant Park is complete mayhem. All I hear outside are the sounds of the El train roaring by and cheers from the crowds. There is something incredibly special about being here, in the middle of Obama’s election night headquarters, in the town he resides in, in the state he was a Senator in. The crowds and cheers are like those you would hear had the Cubs won the World Series. Instead, we are all gathered here, to celebrate politics, the American spirit and our freedoms…. and a hometown President, the first President to be elected from Illinois since Ulysses S. Grant.

The air on Michigan Avenue was filled with camaraderie, unity and total Obama dedication. It is STILL filled with it and probably will be for days to come. Even though I am not at the rally, even though I’m not standing amongst 100,000+ people, even though I will not see Obama speak in person, I am here. I will hear him speak from my open room window. I can tell my boys that we took as much part in the 2008 election night as we possibly could. It isn’t the same as actually being there at the rally, but it’s the best I could do. It is history and I can tell them in 20 years that they were right there… so close. I can tell them that they called our newest president Rocko Bottom. I can explain to them the magnitude of an election that this was.

The funny thing is, when I first saw him a few years ago I got this feeling about him. I just knew I wanted to follow him, believe in him. And, believe it or not, I also said, mostly to myself, that this man would be President someday. That is the honest to God truth. I am not right very often but sometimes I come out on top.

I can hear the lady singing the national anthem right now… Obama will be here soon.

God bless our country.