Today I visited Velma in a rehab center. Velma is one of my favorite friends from Hannan House, the Detroit senior learning center where I've been photographing since mid-June. Although she is 94, until two weeks ago Velma was one of our strongest, most healthy elders in the program. She lives alone in a senior residence and is involved in many activities, including the gardening, art and aerobics classes at Hannan House. Two weeks ago Velma suddenly developed pneumonia. She was in the hospital for a week and is now at a rehab center where she's getting physical therapy to strengthen her enough to go back to her apartment. From what I saw, it won't take long. Velma's doing great.

We talked a lot about the election. This afternoon her daughter was going to bring Velma her absentee ballot so she could vote. Velma is thrilled to be voting for Obama. So am I. This morning I took my completed absentee ballot to my City Clerk's office. Not since I cast my ballot for John F. Kennedy in the 1960 election have I felt so good about voting for a presidential candidate. I believe Barack Obama is not only going to win in a landslide, but that he will be one of the greatest presidents in our country's history. He makes me proud to be an American and, believe me, it's been a very long time since I've felt anything approaching pride in my country. Yes, he's going to inherit a mess but it's a mess he recognizes and has reasonable solutions to try. January 20th can't come soon enough in my opinion. That is the day Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th president of the United States of America. I wish it were tomorrow!