building

tuesday was an amazing night. i spent it working, then meeting up with some of the folks i love the most. i'm extremely grateful i was standing next to kati and marilyn for mccain's concession speech. and i was standing next to summer for obama's acceptance speech. these memories are precious and branded.

i lost track of my friends that night when my dad called. he wanted to be sure to talk to his kids on that historic night. i love my dad for many reasons, that phone call being one of them.

in the past week, i've talked to folks who supported obama, and folks who did not. there was one pervailing theme- hope. everyone has hope for what obama does. but what about hope for what i do? and you do? and what the person next to me does?

now, bear with me while it seems like i get side-tracked...
we're deploying a new program at work. i have both loved and loathed this process. i have loved seeing people rise to the challenge. i have loved being a part of pushing limits to achieve better performance. i have loved experiencing folks move from hating this product to loving its benefits. i have loved seeing the realization that we're all in it together. and kindness and forgiveness is just as required as expectation and delivery.

i have struggled with the pessimism involved in this project. i have struggled with the lack of effective communication. i have mostly struggled with the idea that the success or failure of this deployment seemed to rest on the shoulders on just about anyone else except the person i was talking to.

the success of this deployment depends on each and every person involved. it depends on each of us coming to the table. it depends on each of addressing flaws. addressing frustrations. and each of us hoping it works, til we experience enough to know it does.

i blogged months ago about hope and obama. barack obama is one of my heroes. but it was never obama that made me hopeful for opporuntity or change. it was everyone who showed up to the table. because for the first time in my life, we needed a whole new table. we needed a whole new building, actually.

keep hoping. keep acting. keep showing up. the work has not become easier, or slowed. let us not forget, in all the enthusiasm, prop 8 still passed. there is work to be done. despite any differences or similarities, i want us all building.