The day after

All day yesterday I felt like I should say "something" on my blog about the importance of the day or how I was feeling, but I just wasn't really sure what to write. Honestly, I had a lot of work to do, I had lunch plans and other than reading the play-by-play blog coverage of my favorite tv critic, I wasn't engaged in what was going on as it happened. It wasn't even until nearly bedtime that I watched any national news coverage and I never got around to listening to President Obama's speech online as I had planned to.

But I'm willing to bet that if I had been home, I would have been glued to the TV all day.

Over and over, the thought that goes through my mind is how happy I am that Heather will always know an America where a person of color can be president. Just as I have always known an America without segregation. I admit to being hopeful that she will come think of a female President being just as commonplace as an African-American one, but I will settle for a fairly consistent string of female Secretaries of State for now.

In the end, I know that the qualifications and dependability and actions of our elected leaders is much more important than their race or religion or gender or the color of their skin...but I also realize (sadly) that there are many people who wouldn't believe that someone of a different race or gender or religion is capable of doing well in elected office without seeing it for themselves. I'm cautiously hopeful that this really is a turning point for the United States both politically and culturally.

Just like your predecessors, you've got a lot of work to do President Obama!

p.s. The thing that Heather came away with yesterday (yes, my toddler watched the inaguration at school) is that Obama is fun to say. ;-)