12:21 I’m going to eat a killer fake-chicken salad sandwich after this. And I’ll feel like I deserved a good meal if for no other reason than I voted for this man.

12:24 But just voting wasn’t enough.

If all of us who were so excited about this election, all of us who knocked on doors and registered voters, all of us who proudly wore our “I Voted” stickers… if we don’t all put that same energy into actually making our country better, then those actions lacked soul. They were little more than fashion. Obama as brand label.

Now is the where the work begins. Now is when we love our neighbors with a new sincerity; when we volunteer to help children in need (rather than hoping the government will take care of them); when we recycle and ride bikes (rather than waiting for the government to change the laws); etc. etc. etc., daily, over and over. We must put our love for this country into action so that it may once again become a country worth loving.

12:27 Now here’s a poet in a bright red coat.

“Each one of our ancestors on our tongues.” … That’s beautiful, no?

12:29 But is that fake-chicken salad sandwich more beautiful?… I’m tempted. This is getting kinda boring. I’m pretty sure there’s also a new episode of The Bachelor online that I missed last night. I might turn this off now. Would watching The Bachelor instead of this lady make me a bad American? See, this is when we need the Hologram Obamas to cast a judging eye my way.

12:31 Would it be more patriotic if I watched American Idol?

12:32 A benediction? Oh man. This is starting to feel like church. This is like the part of mass after we’d get the body of Christ and we’d be walking back to our seats and my dad would whisper (keep walking) and then we’d go straight to the parking lot, like we were slick or something. (Sorry, Catholic childhood reference.)

I heard there are $2 pints at Cogan’s tonight. That’s going to be pretty dope.

12:32 Is this man’s mouth full of peanut butter? It’s like somebody gave this Reverend a PB&J right before he walked out but no glass of milk.

12:35  Oprah!… And Stedmund! Yip!

(Now this is one of those Sundays when my dad made us stay after getting the body of Christ and I’m just looking around the church for someone interesting to stare at. Like Mary Webster, the hottest girl in 7th grade. Or Oprah.)

12:40 And so it concludes. School is closed. Snow storm coming. What do we do with the rest of the day? I’m certainly not going to listen to these talking heads on tv… Last episode that Bachelor kicked out the Brazilian med student. Which I thought was TOTALLY misguided and near-sighted, but at least he kept the Dallas Cowboy’s cheerleader… Hold on, now my belly is tingling with the dual excitement of a new President and a new Rose Ceremony. I’M BURSTING RIGHT NOW.

Thanks for watching with me and I miss you,

- Jesu