At long last, it’s here: the week Americans finish casting their votes and then wait – with the world – to learn who will inhabit the Oval Office in January. 

Emotions are swirling. Plywood is going up on storefronts. The New York Times remarked on “an urgency never seen before.” Axios news advised that we all “do our part to minimize the drama.” Historian Simon Schama explained what the riotous year 1965 could teach us, and why he “succumbs to optimism.”

For Monitor journalists, it’s been a long stretch of shoe-leather reporting and navigating a breathtaking array of perspectives. And also of recording those lighter moments that happily punctuate the seriousness.

Peter Grier, who’s covered politics for decades, says he realized things were truly different this year when, in Maine, he saw a boat parade – on land. A large pickup was towing a commercial lobster boat flying a very large Trump flag.

Linda Feldmann, another campaign veteran, enjoyed learning a little about Colombian folk music during a Miami car caravan for Joe Biden. Noah Robertson, new to the political game, recalls taking notes on his phone at a press conference when a text popped onto his screen. “I think I’m watching the back of your head on TV,” his proud mother shared. 

For Story Hinckley, grocery store parking lots – urban and rural, fancy and modest – tell an important story. The many voters she's buttonholed in them may differ on policies, she notes. But in the end there’s one thing they have in common: “They want good jobs, to feel safe, a promising future for their children.”