Not to make too much of the election results — because this blog is anything but political — but I’ve been heartened by the lighter moods of those around me. Even the air yesterday felt more buoyant.

At book group last night, the mood was celebratory. Earlier in the day, a friend texted just three words: Hope is alive. A realtor we know is eagerly waiting an uptick in the real estate market. All around the country, people were waking up and cheering.

There will be two months of a lame-duck Congress and two years of a lame-duck presidency, but it’s hard not to see this as the beginning of the end of a national nightmare.