I turned on the TV last night to catch the weather, before going to bed (chance of snow, thanks Jonathan), I had been reading an actual book so it took my eyes a moment to focus on the TV screen where I saw “Osama bin Laden Killed”.

Osama bin Laden had been off my radar for a while. I really didn’t think we were ever going to catch him and I wasn’t even sure we were looking for him anymore.

What a pleasant surprise.

So I stayed up an extra few hours waiting for President Obama to address the nation and then to watch the commentary after his brief address. Apparently this military operation had been in the works since August and Obama gave the go-ahead during the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Which makes sense if you think about it because everyone was watching that, probably even bin Laden and his minions.

My first thought on the whole subject was who can I call to tell. It was late Sunday night, too late to call anyone so I texted my ex husband. He and I had spent 9/11 in the hospital watching the Twin Towers and Pentagon getting hit and then we sat together in stunned silence for what seemed like days watching it on TV. I couldn’t help thinking how much things had changed in those nearly ten years.

After texting my ex husband I texted my son who was downstairs in his room. I could have gone downstairs but I didn’t want to miss the President speaking and I was kinda comfy on the couch. Son never texted me back, he’d already fallen asleep. I thought about sending an email to Cardiogirl to let her know what was going on. Cardiogirl doesn’t pay much attention to the news so I thought I might be able to be the bearer of good news. My computer had already been turned off for the night so I didn’t bother (though, I did IM her this morning and was not surprised to learn that she did not know what had happened. So I did get to break the news to her which was pretty cool).

I thought about how I really wanted to call my dad and talk about this great development.

And then I realized that I could never be President of the United States, or any country for that matter, because there is no way I could have kept this secret. I would have been filmed while out doing presidential things with a huge shit eating grin on my face and I would have given it away. I would be unable to sit still, fidgety as other important meetings took place, bursting with the knowledge that Osama bin Laden finally got what he deserved.

I found out this morning that the whole thing had been inadvertently live blogged on Twitter, it’s actually pretty funny.

I was surprised at how pleased I was that they finally got the bastard. And I hope people dust off their American flags and start displaying them proudly again.

When everyone got up this morning we talked about it a little. My son wants to see proof as I am sure a lot of people do. There will be the nut jobs out there who insist on a long form death certificate and pictures and the DNA tests and all that and even then they won’t be convinced. I doubt we will see any pictures since they would only become fodder for the radicals who support him. According to several news sources he was buried at sea following Muslin tradition. See, that’s how we roll, you can be an ass but we will still respect your religion even if you can’t respect any one elses (seriously, why isn’t there a possessive for else? How the hell do we type this word?). If any of his followers want to mourn at his resting place they can do it underwater. I hope the fish don’t choke on him.

I was surprised to learn that my daughter didn’t know who Osama bin Laden was. Really surprised since we have watched movies about 9/11 and the memorials together. Apparently they haven’t covered it in school yet.

I’m glad he is dead. I’m not sure how this will play out for terrorism, I suspect it will always be around, but I hope that with all the unrest going on in the Middle East in a push for democracy that one of his seconds can’t take control of the movement. I’m not sure what bin Laden’s role has been these past several years either. Seems he was in poor health these last several years. It’s been a while since we have seen any videos of him robustly shooting off guns in the desert. I suspect he has been sitting around his mansion (nice cave, buddy) playing poker and eating Hot Pockets.

This won’t be the end of terrorism but I do hope it quiets some of the reemerging hatred of America. Even for just a little while, that would be really nice. My hat, if I had one, would be off to President Obama and all the people who made the death of Osama bin Laden a possibility, including former President Bush. And my heart still goes out to those who lost someone on that horrible day back in September of 2001.