Wahl cheers longtime family friend's win

SANDPOINT - Very few people can say they went to high school with the leader of the free world, but Sandpoint's Dyno Wahl will soon proudly make that claim.

Wahl, the executive director of The Festival at Sandpoint, graduated from Punahou School in Honolulu, Hawaii, just two years after Barack Obama. Along with her brother, Mark, Wahl became friends with a charming kid she new simply as Barry.

Since graduation, Wahl has followed Obama's meteoric rise from Illinois state senator to United States senator and now the president-elect of the United States.

"I'm so excited I can hardly believe it," Wahl said shortly after the election was called in Obama's favor.

In the two years since Obama announced his candidacy, Wahl and her family have become political junkies, eschewing "American Idol" and "Dancing with the Stars" in favor of CNN marathons.

As the election drew closer, Wahl's confidence in Obama's chances grew, but she was reluctant to believe it was really happening for fear of being disappointed.

"For the last week my head has been telling me that he was going to win. Intellectually, it looked that way to me, but my heart was just reserved … I didn't want to believe it until it was officially announced," Wahl said.

While she is ecstatic about the victory, the election night was also bittersweet for Wahl because Obama's grandmother, affectionately known as Toot, passed away before seeing her grandson reach the pinnacle of his career.

"It's been bittersweet, too, because his grandma, Toot, was a friend of our family," Wahl said. "When she died it was really hard. We were hoping she would hang on to be able to see this. It's really sad to me that his parents and his grandparents couldn't see him achieve this, because they would be so proud."

Wahl said she doesn't know if she will attend Obama's inauguration, but said her brother and her son will make the trip to Washington, D.C. to witness the historic event.