Saturday, November 7, 2020 - President Joseph R. Biden & Vice President Kamala D. Harris

I took this photo about an hour before the election results were called. The city was still quiet. This morning I tried but I could not remember what a Saturday afternoon felt like before this past March. For a while I held an image in my mind: meeting someone two autumns ago at Fiftieth Street and Sixth Avenue.

I tried to remember all of the people going on about their lives in the background who were a part of of the scene. I didn’t know that I was taking them for granted. I didn’t know they could be gone; that years later, I’d forget what it was like to have them there.

This pandemic has taken so much away from our city.

With an exacting clarity I remember taking the Staten Island Ferry on the afternoon after the 2016 election, sunk, defeated, and wondering how we’d make it through the next four years. Just as clearly, I remember looking over and up at the Statue of Liberty and right away thinking of all that this country has already endured.

A feeling of comfort and grace overcame me. I didn’t have today in mind, but something like it. I couldn’t trace all that would have to happen in order to make today possible, but I thought it might happen; that we’d all be able to breathe again.

Like millions, today I’ve cried tears of reflection, joy, release, surrender and gratitude. There’s more work and living to do of course. But at least we have a chance. At least we have a chance.

Congratulations President Joseph Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. And thank you for your work, your faith, and your courage.