We lost, that goes without saying (though the victors will keep on saying it of course), so it is reasonable today to have a sense of loss.
However, it goes much deeper for some of us. Those of us who embraced the EU as part of our identity really do lose something tonight. And it is okay to feel sad about it. Everyone wants those of us feeling a sense of loss to feel better. The Brexiteers tell us that nothing changes (well that's right, not until next year) and EU citizenship wasn't a real thing anyway so can't conceive of why we're sad. Those who aren't all that bothered don't get why we're all that bothered. Meh, they say, it is but a nothing.
For those of us for whom an ever closer Union was the goal, for whom a shared future within the EU was the plan, this is the end of the dream. Life, politics and culture will move on. Maybe one day we might end up in the EU again. However many of us will be too old to enjoy it.
So you know what... it is fine to feel sad, fine to feel a loss. Even if the coming brave new future sees an agreement with the EU that gives us all the same rights we have today... it still won't mean that the future some of us wanted is gone.
I tried to explain it someone confused as to why I felt this sense of loss and I said, "If the United Kingdom split tomorrow and you found yourself no longer officially British living in whatever the new country would be, how would you feel?".
The lights will still turn on. People will still go to work. The trains will still run. That doesn't mean, emotionally, things haven't changed.
East Germany. Yugoslavia. It isn't unusual for people to loss the citizenship they valued and have to come to terms with that.
Tomorrow is another day. There's always a new horror to take our minds off the last. Today, though, today you feel however you like.
