My son asked me yesterday why I voted for Obama. I stopped and thought about it - there are so many valid reasons, but how do I explain it to a 7-year-old child?

Fear. I voted for Obama because I'm tired of being afraid all the time. Our nation has spent too much of the last 8 years in fear. Some of it justified...Much of it created and exaggerated by the people in charge to further their own agenda.

The war in Iraq. Why are we there? Because we were played - our fear and our anger were used against us in order to justify a war that has cost us the lives of thousands of Americans. Men and women who had a job to do and died doing it the best they could.

The economy. I'm tired of feeling like my husband's paycheck, the same military paycheck that thousands of others receive, is getting stretched tighter and tighter. Watching groceries skyrocket. Watching the oil companies bring in BILLIONS in dollars of profits while everyone else is sinking. Losing a couple of thousand dollars within the space of a month - money that to us represented almost 2 years worth of savings, meant to help send our kids to college.

I feel like a little kid who is in the middle of a nightmare that mommy and daddy said didn't exist. It's still here, it's getting bigger, and the monster seems poised to jump right out of my closet and into my bed. I want the nightmare to end. I want the monster to go away...lost in the depths of my closet. I want *good* dreams - dreams where my children and all children have the chance to go to college. Dreams where everyone in this country, particularly those children, have access to good healthcare. Where the rich aren't getting richer by taking from the rest of us. Where we don't have to choose between doing fun things as a family and putting groceries on the table.

From fear to hope...that is my dream. That is why I voted for Obama. To see my wonderful country once again united in hope instead of fear.