I had every intention of tweeting and live blogging during yesterday's historic Inauguration, but in the end, I was too overcome by the emotion of the day.
I am 52 years old. My daughter is exactly 40 years younger. By the time I was her age, I had lived through:
- The assassination of President Kennedy
- The struggle for civil rights and assassinations of civil rights leaders
- The Watts Riots
- Assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy
- The violence at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago
And on January 20, 1969, I was home sick with my annual winter case of strep throat, and watched Chief Justice Earl Warren deliver the oath of office to our 37th President: Richard Nixon. We all know how well that turned out.
My contemporary Grace Davis has told me she thinks that growing up in such a turbulent age left our entire late Boomer generation with post-traumatic stress disorder. I tend to agree with her. I know the generations that follow us have read about these events in their history books and have probably seen lots of archived news footage from the time... but I think it's different for those of us who LIVED it.
Is it any wonder that I've been sobbing real tears this week, as I watched the beginning of the new Obama era?
I co-hosted an Inaugural viewing party yesterday morning with fellow SoCal MOMocrat Cynematic (the third member of our triad, Queen of Spain Erin Kotecki Vest, has been part of the crowd in Washington, witnessing history in person).
The NorCal MOMocrats also hosted an Inaugural party, which was sponsored by Quaker Oats, who did the same for other gatherings throughout the country, as a benefit for the childhood hunger-fighting organization, Share Our Strength.
Participating in Quaker's program is simple: All you have to do is visit this website and enter the UPC (barcode) from any variety of Quaker hot cereal. For every UPC entered through February 28, Quaker will donate a bowl of nutritious oatmeal. Don't like the stuff? Here's a valid UPC you can enter: 030000013809. I can't think of an easier way to help a hungry child.
Cyn and I applied to host one in Los Angeles, but that honor went to our friend, Elizabeth Peterson. As it would have been impossible to get to her home in time to see Chief Justice Roberts deliver the oath of office, we opted to go ahead with our own party.
Elizabeth (who leads a Republican Moms playgroup) had enlisted Jessica Gottlieb to be her co-host for the Quaker party, so it was now being held closer to my home -- but that was okay. Theirs was going to be a bipartisan affair, and to be honest, I wasn't in the mood for it yesterday.
Don't get me wrong: I hate the rancor and meanness that have marked our political conversations of the last two decades. I have a lot of friends who are Republicans. I want us all to get along. We are going to have to work together to solve the deep and frightening problems our nation currently faces.
But yesterday, I wanted to rejoice with people who feel the same way I do: that yesterday was the end of an eight-year national nightmare. I didn't want to hold back my feelings as we watched President Bush's helicopter transport him out of Washington. And I didn't want to have to worry about offending friends who are not convinced that Barack Obama will lead us out of the mess the last administration left behind.
I figure I can start "reaching across the aisle" today. Yesterday, all I wanted to do was to kick back with my Democratic friends, and savor the moment with a slice of Inaugural cheesecake.
We missed out on the Quaker deal, but ended up with a sponsor of our own: Eli's,
the Chicago bakery that provided the 500-lb cheesecake served to
President Obama and the guests at last night's Commander-in-Chief Ball.
That confection was made with 100 pounds of cream cheese, 30 pounds of
sugar, 25 pounds of sour cream, 50 pounds of powdered sugar, 126 eggs,
15 pounds of flour, 50 pounds of apples, 30 pounds of butter, 4 cups of
vanilla, 15 pounds of brown sugar and 12 tablespoons of cinnamon.
As you can see, ours was a lot smaller and as yummy as it sounds (it was worth every calorie!) Eli's is selling these limited edition Inaugural cheesecakes online through February 16 -- perfect for President's Day! -- and they've offered SoCal Mom readers a discount: Use coupon code Inablog9 to get 15% off your order.
When I got home, I peeked at my friends' Twitter stream to see how others perceived this day. Most of the people I know were as moved as I was and expressed a desire to see our new President succeed (even those who did not vote for him). But some GOP folks were not ready to give up the fight, and probably never will be... just as I was not ready to share the Inaugural experience with them.
The Republicans I know seem to be of two minds about the future: veering between optimism and dread. On that, we can agree. But I'm scared about the future, and I have a feeling the next few years are going to be tough ones for our family.
I'm excited to have a brilliant, competent, caring man in the Oval Office - the right man for these frightening times. I pray that history bears that out.
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