Ah, a Movie Commercial.

Wait. What was that on my TV screen? Oh, yes...I remember, a movie commercial. The equally annoying and ubiquitous self promotion vehicle that was on TV and radio before the election. It seems like two years since I saw one.

Life is back to normal around here. For me that means potty training. Just now as I sat, smooshed on a small stool in our equally small (seemingly ever shrinking) bathroom, it hit me that there is a correlation between President-elect Obama's term and potty training.

Yes, I really am going to try to put these together.

Potty training hit some rough patches for us for two reasons. First, I hadn't fully realized that Big Boy was in charge. There is no incentive plan, no diversion tactics, no punishment, no-nothing that can get him to do what he needed to do. So, when I realized the full weight of his power, I just gave up. I regrouped. Stepped back. Cooled off.

The second mistake was thinking that if he had all the power, I had no part in the process. I committed to the process in a very hands off manner. "If you need to go...you know where the bathroom is. Keep your pants dry. Go in when you need to." I'd ask him if he needed to go when I thought he probably would and then accepted his, "I don't have to." Only to have him pee 5 minutes later in the living room, car, bedroom or a combination of all three.

So, now I have committed myself to the process. When I think he has to go, we go. We both stop what we are doing. It will be a learning curve. We both need to create some muscle memory.

How did my mind connect a presidential term to potty training? Oh, yeah, I need to get there, right?

If the election did anything, it awakened the American citizens to the process. President-elect Obama will be the President. The House and Senate will be controlled by a majority of one party. But, we, the citizens of this country must step up and remain focused creating the country we want. We must remain engaged. Each of us. All of us. You. Me. The passion, money and interest the campaign process produced, must be harnessed and redirected. Everyone's voice is needed. The crazy ones I just don't understand, and the ones that resonate with me that I cry as I hear them.

For those who don't like the policies that a President Obama administration may bring, no one is stopping you from writing, calling, bugging, protesting, writing, calling, protesting, volunteering, sending money so that your voice is apart of the process. Sitting back and being passive aggressive won't help anyone. It certainly won't help you and what you believe in. To those of us who are filled with giddy anticipation, we can not sit back and just let the elected officials do all the work. Our ideas are needed as well. We, too, must write, give money, volunteer, bug, and protest so that our unique voices are at least a small part of the mix.

And we must come together. Somehow space must be made to hear each other and move beyond what was. I suggest we all gather in small spaces and share M and M's.

We can not continue to accept a government like we've had. But on top of that, we can not accept the divisiveness or the apathy we all were lulled into accepting. Movie commercials are back, but we've got a reality calling us to action.

With that, eh, hem, out of my system, I am stepping off my soap box ala bathroom stool, and heading to the movies with some friends tonight. (Come on friends, there were worse puns I could have made.)

Check out the new website for President elect
change.gov