Lynda Woolard is a Community Organizer from New Orleans, Louisiana:

On the night of November 4, 2008, I was at the official Obama for America Election Night Watch Party in New Orleans, three blocks from the Maple Street Headquarters at Phillips Restaurant & Bar. I had spent the day answering questions about polling locations and giving out the voter protection hotline number. I spent the better part of the evening passing out the hundreds of "Generation Obama" Mardi Gras beads I had assembled the night before.   

From the day he declared he was going to run, I had been unfaltering in my confidence that hope would prevail this time and Barack Obama would be the next President of the United States. I was a cheerleader. We COULD win this thing. We MUST win this thing. But on election night, I was a nervous wreck. The significance of all we had been fighting for weighed heavy on me. Everything came down to this moment.   

Most of our volunteers and staff were at Phillips for the party, and someone actually snapped a shot of me as victory was announced. What an incredible gift it is for me to have this image captured. While I look deliriously happy, believe me, this is really the look of a woman who is relieved. It felt as if I had been holding my breath for hours. Tears were to follow. Lots of them. But I was not alone. There were smiles and tears combined everywhere I looked.    

It was wonderfully surreal; both exhausting and exhilarating. I am emotional even now looking back. I remain proud of our President, and I am honored to be a small part of the movement now with Organizing for America. I wouldn't have wanted to miss a second of it, or a single Yes We Can.