Today is the first full day of a new, NORMAL Adult, Administration.

 

I knew it would feel better, but I didn’t know it would feel this good.

 

I think my blood pressure has dropped some. Not that that it needed to–I don’t have hypertension–but this feels good!

 

This feels peaceful, safe, warm and welcoming.

 

I am no longer waiting for yet another shoe (of an undetermined number of them) to drop…

 

Yesterday’s Inauguration events were simply splendid, in one word.  The diversity, the colors, the pomp and pageantry… all of it felt so very special… probably because just two weeks ago, in the same spot, we came so close to losing this ceremony forever.

 

But that wasn’t the only reason it felt enormously special.

 

It was also very different from most other inaugurations.

 

It felt personal, intimate, almost familial to me.

 

Here was the kind of nation I envisioned as a fresh-faced Star Trek fan back in the mid-60’s.  There were people from everywhere in those seats. And they were spaced far enough apart that I could view them individually. None were crunched up against others.

 

There was Bernie, of course, unadorned, dressed in homemade mittens and wrapped in an everyman’s jacket, looking like the rest of us who were watching at home. He came early and I doubt he stayed any longer than he had to, because he always has a list of things to do, and every moment not doing them is a dereliction of his duty. He came to work today. The sooner, the better. But first things first. Show up. Pay his respects.  Then, back to work!

 

There were the ladies, all of whom looked gorgeous … and powerful. Very few were there as arm candy; they were there because they have their own lives and goals, which their husbands have embraced in the same way wives were expected to embrace their husbands’ careers and goals for eons before.  (Just one stark example: Dr. Jill Biden plans to keep teaching, in addition to being First Lady.)  That felt special and quite different.

 

Maybe it wouldn’t have felt as much that way if Kamala Harris wasn’t about to be sworn in as the first female/black/Asian-descent Vice President, but by the time Amy Klobuchar, poet Amanda Gorman, and singers Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez all made their appearances, it became quite clear that women hold up half the sky and are equally inspirational, talented, and laudable as men.

 

As a happy result, I have a feeling that today lots of little girls of all colors are feeling a lot better about who they are than they were just two days ago.  The immediate past occupier of the Oval Office had a decidedly different view of women and their places, value and personal/professional goals, one I will not enumerate here because, with any luck at all, that perspective left town when he did… and those who are still holding onto it are probably reevaluating their calcified opinions, too (I hope!) as a result of what happened yesterday (or actually, as  result of what happened on November 3rd, which feels like eons ago, now). We now have a woman VP and I expect she will become President one day.

 

I sense a more progressive administration than they ran on, one that will push as far and as fast as it can to live up to American ideals of equity for all, livable wages, a healthier planet, and a whole host of other important policies that most Americans agree on, no matter what their political persuasion.  Joe Biden knows how to get to the core of a matter — to its heart — and say what needs to be said to get others to sign on. He’s the perfect President for this period of time.  He won’t divide us up, vilify or demonize those who aren’t on the same page… and that alone will bring some light back into the world.

 

We do need to stop thinking about “us” versus “them.”

 

We’re all in the same boat. It’s leaking. This isn’t the time to be hitting each other over the head with the oars; it’s time to grab our cups and shoes and buckets and start bailing the water out that is threatening to send us to the bottom of the lake.

 

Our captain knows his shit. He’s been at this quite a while. He has friends on both sides of the aisle and mad respect everywhere in the world.

 

It’s quite the sea change.  It’s going to be quite an adventure!