I am sitting here with my dad watching the inauguration. As I watch it I can only wish that my mom was here to watch it with us, however, I feel that she is here, even if I can not see her. She is here in me and dad’s hearts, memories of things she said to me over the years lending to me an easy knowledge of how she would feel watching this.

I remember things she said to me over the years, things such as living in New Orleans years ago. How she felt that it was not right that blacks could not come into the diner she worked at. Mom had to take their meals to the back door for them. She told me of how just after she got there, having moved from California, she got onto a bus and automatically went to the back of the bus to smoke a cigarette. She apparently got into a lot of trouble – a white woman at the back of a bus in the deep South.

I was raised by my parents to respect people, the only guide to a man’s character being an old adage of my grandfather that “If my dog don’t trust a man, I probably shouldn’t either.”

This is a very wonderful day for this country, and I know that, if only in our hearts, my mom is here watching it with me and dad. I know as well that President Obama’s grandmother is with his family today, watching in unspeakable pride as he takes the oath of office. (When I wrote this he was President Elect – he is now President. Congratulations Mr. President!)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 at 7:54 am and is filed under Notes from the Admin. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.