This literally made me choke up again because I shared this experience more times than I care to remember.

Before He Was President, Mistaken for a Waiter:

As reported by Katherine Rosman of Wall Street Journal, she met then Illinois State Senator Barack Obama in 2003 at a book release in Manhattan. From here, she gives her story:

Once there, though, I felt awkward and out of place.

Standing by myself I noticed, on the periphery of the party, a man looking as awkward and out-of-place as I felt. I approached him and introduced myself. He was an Illinois state senator who was running for the U.S. Senate. He was African American, one of a few black people in attendance.

We spoke at length about his campaign. He was charismatic in a quiet, solemn way. I told him I wanted to pitch a profile of him to a national magazine. (The magazine later rejected my proposal.)

The following year I watched as he gave the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention, and then won his Senate seat that fall. On Tuesday, Barack Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States.

But what I will always remember is as I was leaving that party in 2003, I was approached by another guest, an established author. He asked about the man I had been talking to. Sheepishly he told me he didn’t know that Obama was a guest at the party, and had asked him to fetch him a drink. In less than six years, Obama has gone from being mistaken for a waiter among the New York media elite, to the president-elect.

It reminds me of Langston Hughes Poem, “I too, Sing America”:

I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother.They send me to eat in the kitchenWhen company comes,But I laugh,And eat well,And grow strong. Tomorrow,I'll be at the tableWhen company comes.Nobody'll dareSay to me,"Eat in the kitchen,"Then. Besides, They'll see how beautiful I amAnd be ashamed-- I, too, am America.

For all those moments I was asked for a refill, asked for a price check, snapped at by restaurant costumers, handed an empty glass with an empty stare--by people who consider themselves to racially tolerant, racially sensitive, and dare I say, even progressive... I can finally say there is a President who understands my experience, who even as a successful young elected official had to endure the same awkward situations.

That may not mean much for some. But for me, it is a reminder of how far we have come, and have yet to go.