joy comes in the morning

weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning. – Psalm 30:5.


This was part of the inaugural speech.


Shirley Chisholm was the first black woman elected to Congress (1968) and four years later the first to run for president. Harris' sorority wore pearls as their symbol. Many women today wore pearls.



Many women today also wore Converse shoes because we were so thrilled when Harris deplaned while campaigning, while wearing Converses rather than heels. 


The first inauguration I attended was Clinton's first. Fighter jets flew in formation overhead, one jet, two jets, three jets, two jets, one jet, a duck. "Quack!"
The unintended but perfect timing of the duck made everyone underneath start laughing which surely disconcerted the duck more. 


The second inauguration I attended was Obama's first and it was FREAKING COLD. I had given myself food poisoning so I was also sick, but I wasn't going to miss it. 


That said, we could see and hear everything much more easily today and we had much better access to bathrooms. A friend of mine set up a zoom call so we could watch together again. This time Karen joined us. 


I came back upstairs this afternoon and saw the walk to the White House. I am certain that every time Biden sprinted to the side to greet someone that a quarter of the populace gasped. When he was finally inside the commentator asked if that disturbed everyone else too.  


The President then signed 17 executive actions to begin to reverse the damage of the previous four years. Because of the severity of "cascading crises" we can expect more executive actions than Biden is wont. 


Four years ago a Trump supporter, surrounded by Democrats, told me that we'd survive. I told him not all of us. He was shocked (it was a dramatic statement). I followed by saying that it was our job to ensure as many survived as possible. We did not all survive, but we didn't have a nuclear war and that is something. 

We worked very hard, together, and now we can move forward.