History in the making...

Dear JD & Cole (my sweet, naive, young American boys),

Today is an incredibly historic day for our country. Today is the Inauguration day of our 44th President of the United States, whom happens to be the first African American president ever to serve in the white house. Someday when you're older, you'll be reading about this in your history books - and thinking back that you were only 2 years old when this happened. Hopefully by that time, racial tensions of every kind will be long gone. You may not understand by that time why it was such an important time in history - since you will be so far removed from the days when equality was far from acceptable. It is my wish that our world continues to be more accepting of people, more tolerant of people's choices and less materialistic.

This milestone is huge for our country. Your "Mimi" is from a generation that remembers the hatred & violence that was legally inflicted on the black people of America - and this behavior was accepted, and expected, by that generation. We've come such a long way since then - and today is such a historic day in our country's life and our lives, for this reason.

Although you guys are too young now to understand any of this, our nation and world are forever changed by the election of our newest president. Although Obama wasn't my first choice for president, he IS my president now, and I vow to support him and our nation as we squander through a very rough time of economic downturn and worldly turmoil. He's got a tough road ahead to bring us back to where we need to be. This world is full of hatred, particularly for our country. Since September 11, 2001, that horrific day, we have been fighting the war on terror, which will continue.

I hope with all of my heart that our country can pull together and blur the bi-partisan lines to bring our nation back to it's core values. We are a divided nation now - worse than it has ever been in my lifetime. I am hopeful that our new president can help us all measure up to the challenge he delivered today:

"For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the fire fighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task. "

I am not alone in saying that I vow to be hopeful for our nation and do my part, to better our world for the sake of you and your children, and grandchildren. Politics are not my forte - and I don't profess to know much of anything about politics. But I do know which values I profess, and those that I will try to instill in you as you grow older. This historic day is a great place to start. As I watched parts of the festivities today, I wished that you were a bit older and could appreciate what has happened.

Love,
Mommy