Stumbling for Context

I'm just not sure where to begin, where to take it, and where to end. Forgive me in my attempts to navigate my own feelings, however clumsily.

This whole area- from the folks on the street, to the wait staff in the restaurants- is just alive, and in a good way. We just heard that the Obamas are going to 8 different balls tonight, with the final appearance slated for 2:30 AM...I will be fast asleep by then. I'm going to try and express what this day- as well as the two that preceded it- has meant to me.

I actually remember growing up wondering what I would tell my kids some day about national moments in my life. My mom was always telling me stories of where she was when Kennedy was assassinated, and when Americans first walked on the moon. I wondered what my moments would be. For too many years, I feared the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 would be all I’d have to share with my kids, and all my students would have to share with their kids some day. The tragedy in New York gave me my “Kennedy assassination,” but not my “walking on the moon” moment.

Is this, the Inauguration of the first African-American, my moon moment? Nobody knows. Will Obama be a good president? That’s equally as impossible to tell at this point. The only thing we can do is make sure we commemorate the inauguration in a way that will allow our students to tell their kids some day, as vividly as possible, where they were when the first African-American man was sworn in to the office of President of the United States of America. I know where I was, and who I was among. I know how it smelled, sounded, and looked, and in that, I feel luckier than any man alive. Everyone, though, from DC to California and everywhere in between, had their own tastes, smells, sounds, and sights. I only hope everyone takes a moment to record, in whatever way makes sense to them- journal, photos, recorded word- their thoughts, feelings, and experiences on this, one of the most important days in our shared history as Americans.

Overly romantic? Maybe. But, in five years, if I have the choice between looking back to today and regretting making too big a deal of it, versus not making a big enough deal of it, I'll take the former. So should we all.