Today, I was So Proud

four years ago

today

I am happy, happy, happy today. I've even found myself thinking, 20-year atheist that I am, "Thank you, Jesus!" That's what a childhood in the South leaves with you when good things happen, atheist or not.

Off and on today, between board games and a lunchtime outing for pizza and a few rounds of Kinect Star Wars (I am really good at the Galactic Dance-off!), I watched the inaugural festivities streaming live on my computer. Through speeches and songs and parades, I noticed something really funny about myself: much of the time, I was watching not the festivities taking place, but President Obama watching the festivities. I was enjoying watching the look on his face as he experienced his inauguration, exactly the same way that I enjoy watching the looks on my children's faces as they experience events that are really special to them. Silly, right? But he's the first president in my memory that I genuinely, truly, absolutely like (well, I liked Clinton, but then he couldn't keep it in his pants). Is this how my Mammaw felt about Kennedy? 

Today, I was so proud. May I feel the same way about the world tomorrow.