Inauguration

   Early this morning I sent a text to my stepdaughter, Carrie. I asked her to make sure that she watched the inauguration today. This is historic, I wrote to her. I never thought that I'd see this in my lifetime. She told me that she would.

   I don't think I've ever watched an inauguration before. I'm guessing that was because I was probably working. I was definitely going to watch this one though. No way I was going to miss out on watching the first woman be sworn in as Vice President of the United States. 

   I honestly didn't think I would ever see this. I remember Geraldine Ferraro from 1984. I was hoping that she and her running mate Walter Mondale, who was from Minnesota, would win. I liked Ferraro because she was of Italian descent like me. They didn't win.

   There was a gap of 24 years between Ferraro and the next woman to be a vice presidential candidate on main party ticket. This time it was Sarah Palin. I couldn't never understand why McCain picked her. She just didn't seem to have the experience or the temperament to make a good Vice President.

   Twelve years later, Kamala Harris is chosen to run with Joe Biden. I read a bit about her and liked what I saw. I thought that this could be the first time a woman could be on a national ticket and win. I was hopeful that this might be the year I'd see a woman break that glass ceiling. I was right.

   We started watching the inaugural proceedings. I was excited to see all the past presidents come though the large double doors at the Capitol Building. With the exception of Jimmy Carter and Donald Trump, all the former presidents were there with their wives. It was nice to see this small show of unity after so much chaos and anger and violence. Everyone was making the attempt to get along with everyone else. It was a relief to see it.

   I admit to tearing up when the ceremony started. I liked the speeches by Senators Klobuchar and Blunt. I smiled a little when it was suggested that Senator Klobuchar, from Minnesota, brought some snow with her. C and I stood in the kitchen with our arms around each other watching. It felt like the clouds were clearing after a bad storm. We watched Vice President Harris take the oath of office administered by Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Since Justice Sotomayor is herself the first Latina and Hispanic member of the Court, it seemed fitting that she should administer the oath.

   Then Joe Biden stood and prepared to take his oath of office as president. His wife, Dr. Jill Biden, held an enormous Bible for husband. The Bible is a family heirloom and has family history information recorded in it.

  After the oaths had been taken President Biden returned to the lectern to give his inaugural speech. He pled for unity and talked about all the challenges that we face as a nation. He said that we face them best when we face them together. I truly feel that he meant every word of that speech. 

   I'm sure there are many that feel it was just political posturing. I'm also sure there are many that are still very angry that their candidate of choice did not win. Biden addressed that group too. He asked to be given a chance and that he was all right with people disagreeing with him as long as those disagreements remained non violent.

   I would agree. He is going to do his best to address the challenges that we face. He isn't going to be able to do it alone. We need to help. All of us. We need to lay aside our differences and look at each other and fellow humans who want the same things in life, opportunity, clean places to live, enough food and housing for everyone, good school for our children and affordable medical care. Time will tell if he succeeds or fails. At least he is going to try. That's a good start.