My Thoughts on Inauguration Day

By Cecile

I had a great Inauguration Day. To begin with, it started way before January 20, of course. I worked to get out the vote and met with local Democrats to walk and talk. Then I signed up to visit a household the first (and only) Inauguration party out in the rural area where I live. I didn't know who was hosting but was sure it would be interesting. Everyone was so excited.

When I got to the house in the small community of Aromas, on the Monterey County side of the street, I was pleased to see a lovely cottage with roses growing over an arching gateway. Very welcoming on that special morning. People were seated all around, and two screens were available to watch: one was the TV with CNN's broadcast. Closed captioning was on so we could read that while watching the other screen—a large projection screen where we viewed and listened to an Internet broadcast from the hostess's computer.

This high-tech system was indicative of the people who live in North Monterey County, where many of us make our livings via the concentration of computer companies forty minutes up the highway in Silicon Valley.

A great spread of food made our morning breakfast unique, including local persimmons, a beautiful fruit salad, various teas, carrot cake, lemonade, and more. The choices indicated a concern about people's health, and this proved to be true: the hostess is a homeopathic doctor and instructor.

Multiple religions seemed to be represented at that home by Hindu deities, angels, menorahs, and other spiritual icons. The others attending were diverse in age and both men and women were present, but no minorities attended. While I didn't know anyone, I recognized several names as local artists.

Everyone smiled and chatted during the preliminaries, but as the time for Obama to take the oath approached, we quietly became more solemn. Some of us even had tears in our eyes at such a wonderful event occurring. We had dared to hope—and many of us had acted—so evidence of such change in our collective attitudes about race and youth might happen. Some of us even commented that we hadn't really expected to see it in our lifetimes. The impact of this evidence was felt strongly by all in the room save for the very youngest, who was playing with the cat, but she was only about two.

We all had favorite parts of this Inauguration Address. I particularly liked the part about the strength of diversity like a patchwork quilt. The poet also caught me with a line about how we take the words and write.

Even while the ceremony was closing down, the hostess excused herself to milk one of her goats. She mentioned that not even Obama could cause disruption in that schedule. She led the goat to the front porch milking stand, hooked up an electric milking machine, and fed the beautiful goat something to munch on while this process was completed. That kind of set the bookends of my Inauguration experience—high tech viewing systems and goat milking, all within a short time and space.

People chatted for awhile and then gradually dispersed to continue their day, with smiles on their faces and courage in their hearts—for peace, for prosperity, and a new vision for our country.

[I've got photos of this too...including the goat. ]