I didn’t realize I was going to be writing about politics again so soon. But then again, I didn’t realize how much I was going to react to the inauguration happening. I knew I’d be watching it, but I wasn’t expecting to be so emotional about it. But I was.
This inauguration was literally history happening in front of my eyes. To see the first woman saying the oath of office to be the Vice President was amazing. In one sense, I can’t believe that this is happening in my lifetime. But in another sense, I can’t believe it took this long to happen. And I know for many of my friends, it was even more meaningful to see someone who looked like them or was of similar ethnicity. I feel like everyone I know was just in awe watching everything happen considering what happened only 2 weeks before.
And it was so nice to know most of the people in my life were watching the same thing at the same time as I was. I had several texts going with friends plus one texting group where we were all reacting in real-time to what we were seeing on tv. Some of it was serious and emotional and some of it was silly (like discussing fashion). But it really gave me a sense of community and communal experiences, which is something I have missed so much during this pandemic.
I wasn’t able to watch the entire thing without distractions. I did have to log in for work right after President Biden took his oath. But because my job now doesn’t require me to make phone calls, I was able to keep it on while I worked and I was able to listen to it. And I was recording it on my DVR so I did go back and watch some parts that I knew I hadn’t really been able to listen to. And there were so many good parts during the inauguration.
I loved seeing so many people posting positive things about politics for a day. People were feeling so much hope and not the fear that many of us have felt for a while. That’s how I felt. I knew things wouldn’t be changing right away, but at least now we had someone in charge who would make some changes for the better. For example, Trump had been saying for a while that there was a plan for vaccinations. But now we know that there wasn’t one. If he was still in charge, how long would be believing a plan was coming when one wasn’t in the works.
But I think one of my favorite things from the inauguration was seeing all my friends post photos of their kids watching it happen. I loved seeing kids watching history happen. Even if they were born during the last presidency, they might not remember that happen. So many of them will grow up in a world where a woman has been elected to such a high office. It won’t seem like a dream or something to hope for. It’s a reality of their world.
After seeing so many friends post photos, I texted my sister-in-law saying I wanted to see a photo of Rory watching. One day, he will learn about this time in school and I wanted him to have a photo proving he was there when it happened. And I loved the photo that I got texted back to me.
Since that day, it’s been nice to have things feel almost a little boring in politics again. There are daily press conferences. Things aren’t being announced on social media that others are confused about. Nobody is reacting based on just emotion. Things may be slow and boring, but they are working on getting things done and making sure they are done correctly. And that’s what I want out of my government.
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