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January 20, 2009

Our lives become the stories that we weave

I'm trying to catch a sense of "brand new day" or "dawn of an era" or some small part of the sentiment that I'm seeing and hearing around me. It's just not hitting me and I'm struggling as I try to document why, explain/process what it is that I _am_ feeling. Because there's no doubt that I have been tearing up randomly over the past 24 hours and will continue to do so as I watch the ceremony this morning. When I tear up, while triggered by the events of today, I feel as though it has more to do with the events that have come before me and the fact that without them, I wouldn't be where I am today.

My grandfather came north with his family from TN and lived through a time when his (white) father had to pretend not to know his family when riding on the bus to keep his job. My mom was the first in her family line to go to college and because someone in St. Louis was doing a thesis on access my high school educated grandmother was able to navigate the process of getting her a scholarship and admission to Vassar in 1965. My dad, after working his way through teacher's college (as a bagger at Kroger) and teaching 6th grade decided that he wanted to go to medical school and did it. Together, when just a few years older than I am now, they built the beautiful home that has seen so many parties and so many friends and family over the past 25 years.

When my parents got married in '67 (halfway through my mom's education) a professor and his wife (the Johnsons) took them under their wing in every way a 19 and 23 year old newly married couple halfway across the country from their home need support. Today, their son, whom my parents often babysat, becomes General Counsel for the Defense Department.

Today is a moment in history, no doubt. But all of the details of the stories above are what are swirling through my head and heart this morning, rising as a lump in my throat. Somehow, the meteoric rise and success (regardless of policy) of the 44th President translates to me as a celebration/amplification of all the people, places and things that I've known all along, that make me who I am today and enable me to look at a life full of opportunity, privilege, happiness and hope.

Yes they did, and I will - I owe it to all of them.

Posted by nikl at 10:16 AM | Comments (0)