You are not going to believe this, but today I received a personal email from Senator Barack Obama, the man who may be the next President of the United States (And I hope he wins). Then, as if that wasn’t exciting enough, I also received an email from Michelle Obama, the woman who may be our next First Lady. Hey, and even better, they both called me by my first name, Carol, which made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Hmm, the funny thing, however, is how, as I sat in front of my computer looking at those two emails, for the life of me, I simply could not recall ever having met Senator and Mrs. Obama. And surely I would be able to recall meeting two such noteworthy people, wouldn’t I? Quite stymied, I then concentrated in an attempt to remember where we possibly could have met. Had it perhaps been in the checkout line at Wal-Mart or the local Piggly Wiggly? Then again, maybe we’d bumped into one another in the Goodwill store on Albertson’s Parkway, which is the one I patronize because the local “rich folks” donate their old clothes there, and that means the quality of the shop’s merchandise is a little more upscale than the others in the area. Then again, I couldn’t help but wonder what on earth Senator and Mrs. Obama could have been doing at the Goodwill on Albertson’s Parkway, although I guessed they could have stopped by in their limo to drop off a donation of old clothes.

No way, I decided, the mere idea was preposterous, so, applying my critical thinking skills, I then logically deduced that the three of us had never met. I mean, come on, get real, do you honestly think I would forget something, well, as downright memorable, as meeting Senator and Mrs. Obama? Granted my memory may not be what it used to be, but it isn’t quite that bad, at least not yet.

Of course, as I soon discovered through a closer reading of my two personal emails, both messages were simply pleas for contributions to the Obama campaign, and not contributions of my old clothes either (In reality, no one would want my old clothes) but contributions of money. After all, it costs a heck of a lot of money to run for President of the United States in this day and age.

Not that the Senator and his wife are asking for a fortune. The email says, “Make a donation of $5 or more today;” and, hey, what’s $5, right? Not much in the scheme of things, especially since it won’t buy much of anything in the way of necessities today. Oh, it might purchase a little over a gallon of gasoline or a gallon of milk or two loaves of bread or a box of triple-strength Excedrin, but certainly not all of these items like it would have purchased in the past, for the sad reality is that $5 in today’s economy is like a nickel when I was a little girl. And that, my friends, is exactly why I intend to send the Senator a contribution, not because he and his wife called me by name, although it did make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but because this country is in a mess and it’s time—no, it’s way past time—for the “change” he promises to deliver. And, personally, even though I have never met him or his lovely wife, Michelle, I believe Barack Obama is a man of his word.