Today marks an historic day for us but I feel like I missed the party.  There were a ton of parties and gatherings today as if it was another national holiday.  Everyone around me was giddy with excitement for the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States and I had to go to work.  Don’t get me wrong, I know that plenty of people went to work today but they also sat at their computers watching it all happen live.  For me, the day came and went and the only part I saw all day was about 5 minutes of the parade as I was in an isolation room.  It was kinda hard to appreciate what was going on with a mask, gown, and booties on as I was on my hands and knees with a baby.

I came home this afternoon feeling a little numb and melancholy.  I’m not sure why.  The only thing I could think of was a similar feeling that I had on the fateful day of the 9/11.  I was working at Rancho as an intern and pretty much isolated from all the news coverage and emotion.  It wasn’t until I got home that I was able to actually able to take in what had happened that day.  So, today I had the same funny feeling.

I’m a person who appreciates tradition and ceremonial events and I couldn’t help get choked up during Bush’s final address last Friday and was inspired by all the pomp and circumstance of today’s events.  One of my favorite traditions is how the outgoing president leaves a confidential letter to the incoming president on the desk of the oval office.  It was in a manila envelope with a small post-it note with the number “44” written on it.  That’s cool.

And so we have a new president.  I’m ok with it.  I just hope that it will satisfy my SF neighbors and co-workers for a while.  Congratulations, President Obama.  You have a lot of work to do.