After dropping the girls off at school, where they would be watching the Inauguration with their classes, Nick and I came back home. I still needed to eat breakfast, but I switched on the television first. There were Malia and Sasha Obama, in their colorful overcoats, heading through the Capitol Building toward the balcony and their seats. I sat down on the couch.
I would not leave the television until after the ceremony was over. In fact, it was after the Bush family boarded the helicopter and departed and everyone went back inside the Capitol. Breakfast would have to wait.
Nick watched with me, wanting to know who everyone was as they came out onto the balcony. He identified the men by their ties (between the scarves and the ties, it was easy to identify them by color): he would later say, "there's Joe Biden in the blue tie."
Barack Obama has such a Presidential air about him, in the way he carries himself. Nick spotted him the first time they showed him walking through the Capitol Building, and shouted, "there's Barack Obama!" (Although sometimes he says "A Rock Obama.") Obama has an amazing amount of composure. Imagine how that quiet confidence will come across in meetings with foreign heads of state.
The ceremony began. We saw Aretha and her fabulous hat. Not everyone can pull off that gigantic bow, but Aretha absolutely can. I loved it! We saw a quartet of world-class musicians (Jewish, Asian, African-American, and Hispanic) play a beautiful arrangement of "Simple Gifts." We saw Joe Biden become our Vice President, and then we witnessed Barack Hussein Obama take the oath of office. I stood up in my living room, thinking "this would be more fun if I was with other people right now!"
Then Nick said, "can we watch something else now?"
Of course, we didn't. We listened to Obama's speech (well, I did, and it was difficult through all of the "when will he stop talking?" whines) and appreciated once again that Obama doesn't think of this presidency as
his, but truly thinks of himself as a
representative of the people. It's striking.
I enjoyed the colors in the benediction ("the red man can get ahead, man"), and very much enjoyed watching that helicopter take off and fly away, getting smaller and smaller.
When the girls got home from school, I said, "what did you do today? Did you see history in the making?" Katie said, "we started learning cursive!"
They did watch it, but no matter how many emotions they see from me, they just can't grasp this. They will always live in a world where a black man has been President of the United States. They may never understand this the way we do. And you know what? Hallelujah!
I did manage to run one errand yesterday, but other than that, I felt like I spent the day in front of the television.
Procession to White House, Parade, Analysis, Parties.... !!
