Last night as I watched mid-term election results come in I heard the talking heads use the term “Wow moments.” I didn’t watch the results late into the night, I fell asleep pretty early, even before we knew what was happening here in Michigan.

But before falling asleep I knew we were witnessing more than one wow moment. This morning I’m learning about several of them:

We here in Michigan elected the first Muslim Senator ever, Dr.Abdule El-Sayed.

Georgia elected the first Black woman governor in US history, Keisha Bottoms.

New Hampshire elected the first openly gay male as Senator, Chris Pappas.

New Mexico elected the first ever Native American governor. The first ever Native American elected as governor in the 250 years of American history.

In fact, Georgia, Florida, Wisconsin and Nevada elected their first Black governors.

And there are probably other ‘firsts’ that I have missed.

I’m proud that our country has opened it’s mind and heart and found the strength to elect people that might not look or believe or be just like ourselves. Last night we elected some people that make our government more representative of all the people in our country. Our country isn’t made entirely of white males, and for years it’s been mostly white males making the decisions.

I know that some of my readers were happy with the way things were. But what makes America great is the fact that we can have differing opinions about the direction of our country and still have a civil conversation. We can still be friends.

This morning, just about half of any states’ voters are unhappy. Some are scared. It’s going to be a very big job for everyone in a position of governmental responsibility to make sure policy discussions include everyone, not just the people that look and act like themselves.

Last night proved the people of our country are stronger than the massive amounts of money spent, stronger than the gerrymandering, stronger than the divisiveness. All of that was hard. Moving forward will be even harder.

But for today I’d like to sit in my rose-colored world and enjoy a teardrop of hope.