let us mark this day with remembrance,
of who we are
and how far we have traveled.
--Barack Obama
of who we are
and how far we have traveled.
--Barack Obama
An unusually crabby Phoebe is in bed (Teething, we think), and Kates and I have just filled our bellies with food from our favorite Chinese restaurant (Bonus Chinese tonight, actually, because the restaurant got our order wrong.).
It’s been a great day on multiple levels. A historic day.
Tonight, we’ve ditched “American Idol” auditions to watch our DVR of today’s inauguration coverage. We caught bits of it throughout the day, but we wanted to be able to soak up every minute of this historic day …
(Ok, so we aren’t watching any of the ball coverage tonight. We’re content to watch those highlights on the morning news shows tomorrow.)
The television was tuned into a news channel from the time we woke up this morning …
And as I headed to work, I had decided I didn’t want to be strapped to my cubicle today. I wanted to be where the action was … So I asked my editor if there was something, anything, I could do to contribute to the inauguration coverage …
He sent me to observe and take in the events at one of the local colleges -- which was exactly the kind of assignment I was looking for. If I wasn’t in Washington, D.C., today, the next most interesting place to be, I thought, was a college campus. There’s an energy I always enjoy about that environment …
On my way, I listened to my favorite radio morning show hosts give the play-by-play of what was happening in Washington, D.C., mixed with their comical commentary and shenanigans. And Coldplay’s “Lover’s In Japan” came on -- talk about a sweet pump-you-up song for the dawning of a new era. ...
It was a brilliantly sunny morning, the kind that made your eyes hurt because the sun’s reflection on the snow and roads was so bright … And at one point, I pulled up to a stoplight behind a car with a Barack Obama '08 bumper sticker. I couldn't keep from smiling.
On the campus, I moved from building to building, finding crowds gathered around TVs set up in lobbies and common areas. Students and professors had either moved their classes in front of TVs or canceled them all together. The audio from all the TVs echoed across multiple floors in some of the buildings … I even caught a knitting class that was moved to a TV-watching area. Imagine, a group of girls sitting on couches trading glances from their knitting to the TV …
I also stumbled on an older couple who’d left their home just outside of Washington, D.C., to visit their family here. Three generations of them had campaigned together for Obama and were now gathered around the TV “to celebrate.” What was more fascinating to me was the couple’s stories of attending Jimmy Carter’s 1977 inauguration and watching the parade from a curb on Pennsylvania Avenue. They also attended Bill Clinton’s 1993 inauguration and found themselves walking among his cabinet members during a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.
I connected with a woman who sat with her 9-year-old daughter. The woman explained to me how much her daughter, the daughter of an African-born man, admires Barack Obama because, the girl says, “he looks like I do.” The woman, who was white, went on to say that she is now raising the girl as a single parent and noted the similarities of her daughter’s childhood to that of Barack Obama.
When the time for the ceremony finally came, the chills started up my spine and never stopped …
Aretha Franklin’s rendition of “My Country 'Tis of Thee." Watching Joe Biden take the oath with such focus and confidence. The John Williams arrangement of “Simple Gifts.” Seeing Malia Obama taking pictures with her own digital camera. The throngs of people on the mall. And the way the students I was with clapped and cheered when Obama completed the Oath.
When Obama flubbed the Oath, it reminded me of when I flubbed the wedding vows during Kates’s and my wedding ceremony. Only now we know it was Chief Justice Roberts who flubbed the words.
And The Speech. With its striking imagery of “gathering clouds and raging storms.” In the “winter of our hardship.” ... (I heard one analyst say later “He could have read the phone book and it would have been inspiring.” Man, can you imagine that SNL skit!?)
And Rev. Joseph E. Lowery’s benediction. So good, so funny.
I only caught glimpses of the post-ceremony festivities throughout the rest afternoon …
And tonight I watched what was left of the parade in front of the White House inside an auto shop as I waited to have my car’s oil changed. I also caught the Nightly News, which featured two of my favorite news segments of the entire day …
How the Obama girls handled the day …
And the ways people watched the ceremony throughout the country.
No doubt, it has been a day to remember.
A new day.
Here's some good reads from the Washington Post ...
a Obama's Moment Arrives
a Obama Looks to Future With a Nod to His Past
a A Flight Test for All of Us
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