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Today is THE Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By LesleyM - Posted on 20 January 2009

Good Morning Everyone!!!!

Can you believe it?!?!!?  The DAY has finally arrived.  Today.  Today Barack Obama will be sworn in as our 44th President of the United States of America.  Today our country begins the long, hard - journey to recovery and healing. 

Forgive me, but my emotions are right at the surface today.  I wanted to take a minute to say to each of you (you too Blakey & Brandon!) that it has been an honor and a privledge to walk this road with all of you.  Each of you have given me new things to think about and (sometimes) challenged me to review my own thoughts & feelings.  Isn't that exactly what Barack Obama wants each of us to do?  But through it all, we have remained strong and determined to see the fruit of our work.  THAT is how change in our great country can be achieved.  WE are doing it!!!

This is a day of such historic proportions that it's hard to wrap my mind around it entirely.  It is so significant on so many different, important levels. 

Words seem to escape me right now...  Be Blessed! 

Much love to each of you!!  

Lesley

 

‹ Obama's efforts at bipartisanship The Spirit of Unity in Action ›
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"to see mysteries
Submitted by Nightporch on Tue, 01/20/2009 - 8:20am.

"to see mysteries everywhere and take joy in the sheer strangeness of life"

From Chet Raymo, religious naturalist, who finds hope and inspiration in the day as well:

Hope

posted by Chet at 11:40 AM UTC

Neither of the parents of the man who is inaugurated today were religious -- at least not in the sense of belonging to a conventional faith. But listen to Barack Obama describing his mother, in The Audacity of Hope:
And yet for all her professed secularism, my mother was in many ways the most spiritually awakened person that I've ever known. She had an unswerving instinct for kindness, charity, and love, and spent much of her life acting on that instinct, sometimes to her detriment. Without the help of religious texts or outside authorities, she worked mightily to instill in me the values that many Americans learn in Sunday school: honesty, empathy, discipline, delayed gratification, and hard work. She raged at poverty and injustice, and scorned those who were indifferent to both.

Most of all, she possessed an abiding sense of wonder, a reverence for life and its precious, transitory nature that could properly be described as devotional. During the course of the day, she might come across a painting, read a line of poetry, or hear a piece of music, and I would see tears well up in her eyes. Sometimes, as I was growing up, she would wake me up in the middle of the night to have me gaze at a particularly spectacular moon, or she would have me close my eyes as we walked together at twilight to listen to the rustle of the leaves. She loved to take children -- any child -- and sit them in her lap and tickle them or play games with them or examine their hands, tracing out the miracle of bone and tendon and skin and delighting at the truths to be found there. She saw mysteries everywhere and took joy in the sheer strangeness of life.
If the son internalized the mother's gift -- to see mysteries everywhere and take joy in the sheer strangeness of life -- I happily give him my support and best wishes for success. A sense of wonder is not a sufficient qualification to be president of the United States, but it suggests a quality of mind that might be conducive to conciliation and inspiration, qualities that are essential to effective and humane leadership.
I am essentially
Submitted by dbmcgaw on Tue, 01/20/2009 - 8:28am.
I am essentially speechless.  All I can do is breathe an eight-year-long sigh of relief.  And hope that all this is not too late to turn things around.
Hello my friends
Submitted by ncwoman on Tue, 01/20/2009 - 8:32am.

Hello my friends from North Carolina! 

God has given me a gift today.  He sent enough snow so that I get a weather day off.  I can now stay home and watch the Inauguration of my President on my television set, in the comfort of my home, instead of at work, sneaking glances at my computer while trying to maintain a semblance of productivity.  Our area has not had significant snow (for us!) in at least 4 years.  And it happens today, of all days.  Things that makes you go hmmmmmm.....

I am so full of happiness and hope today for so many reasons, and I will not let the naysayers and haters put a pin in the balloon of my happiness. 

Let us all pray hard for the success and safety of our new President, our leaders and our nation.  Let us also pray for the people of our country, so that we can come together to support and help our leaders solve our myriad problems.

I've said this before, but I humbly thank you all for allowing me, a Democrat, to make this journey with you.

well.. don't spend the day
Submitted by Pat on Tue, 01/20/2009 - 9:02am.
well.. don't spend the day alone.  AGrandmother & I are in the chat room.. so come on, grab your coffee and join us
 It's an amazing day. 
Submitted by Kim Miller on Tue, 01/20/2009 - 9:04am.

 It's an amazing day.  Even the days between Nov. 4th and today, Obama has shown incredible leadership ability that justifies all the reasons I voted for him.

(A little part of me is very happy to show up those who said that we who voted for him only did so because we were swayed by his pretty oratory and that he has little substance.  Revenge isn't like me, but in this case I'm going to enjoy the h#ll out of it.)

He will continue to win over the hearts and minds of his detractors, and will prove to be a very capable leader at this very challenging time in our history.  Naturally, he won't win over the hard-core detractors, but that will only magnify their insignificance.  With the exception of the hard-core Republican "base," this country wants Obama to succeed.  Our country's collective energy is behind him all the way, and it feels wonderful. 

I'm proud to have been a small part of it, here at RFO. 

 

Such an exciting day!  I
Submitted by Chance on Tue, 01/20/2009 - 9:26am.

Such an exciting day!  I was able to come into work 2 hours early this morning, so I'll be able to leave 2 hours early.  I should get home just in time to watch the swearing in.  So excited.  

Yes America Can!  Yes America Did!

 

I am having to work and
Submitted by bambi on Tue, 01/20/2009 - 10:04am.

I am having to work and sneak peeks at it.  Wish I could join the chat room and spend the time with all of you.  I am recording the entire day so as not to miss one event.  I most look forward to seeing Obama escort Bush out of office!!!

 

 

1 hour 50 minutes ago...
Submitted by Razril on Tue, 01/20/2009 - 10:16am.

1 hour 50 minutes ago... this is exciting. :D

In my part of the world it's 11:10 PM, so I have no problem watching it. I'll just have to sleep late today. (and drown myself in coffee at work tomorrow)

  I am at work but
Submitted by Native Texan - on Tue, 01/20/2009 - 12:15pm.

 

I am at work but hardly working - watching all the coverage...  What an incredible day - the crowd is amazing - such unity -  we did it and now Obama must succeed!  

I pray he does really well in this role as our new Leader.

  

 

Nice to have you back on
Submitted by wcolin on Tue, 01/20/2009 - 1:33pm.

Nice to have you back on board, and posting at RFO, Native Texan!

It is indeed an exciting day in our nation's history.

  Thanks WColin  * I
Submitted by Native Texan - on Tue, 01/20/2009 - 2:26pm.

 

Thanks WColin  * I will try to visit / comment more often

Keep Smiling!  

Today is also the day a few
Submitted by BlakeyV on Tue, 01/20/2009 - 1:39pm.
Today is also the day a few someones New Years resolutions begin.....cough, cough, not saying any names
 I have not had a cigarette
Submitted by Misty on Tue, 01/20/2009 - 1:50pm.
 I have not had a cigarette since noon yesterday. I'm doing Okay.
 Conradulations, you are
Submitted by BlakeyV on Tue, 01/20/2009 - 5:49pm.
 Conradulations, you are the only one with the will power and determination to do it.  We can do this, Hope and Suzi are struggling however.
Suzi isn't struggling at
Submitted by Suzi LeVeaux on Tue, 01/20/2009 - 5:55pm.
Suzi isn't struggling at all.....lol  Nothing to struggle with!
Ok, sure whatever. Golly I
Submitted by BlakeyV on Tue, 01/20/2009 - 7:42pm.

Ok, sure whatever. Golly I thought of all days you would dig alittle deeper an dfind that will power. So much for that.

And... no more Bush... seems
Submitted by peterdang on Tue, 01/20/2009 - 2:47pm.
And... no more Bush... seems like ages ago :)
FYI - my company's wellness
Submitted by MaryMoo on Tue, 01/20/2009 - 2:56pm.

FYI - my company's wellness coordinator sent out a contest with info on starting a healthy habit.

Apparently it takes 21 days according to the research to start and keep a habit going.

Many prayers to you and everyone trying to quit.

My dad never quit and smoked until the day he died.....at 54.

Today has been an amazing
Submitted by KaizenGuitar on Tue, 01/20/2009 - 6:16pm.

Today has been an amazing day.  As I watched the inaugeration with my 2 year old niece, I cried a couple of times.  One because the 8 year nightmare of Bush is over.  And two, because I know how much this means to so many people...so many people who sat it, and who marched, and who were lynched, and beaten, stood together against racial injustice.  I know this isn't the be all and end all of race relations, but I'm ashamed to admit that I never thought I'd see an African American president in my lifetime. (I was born 1976.)

<edited for privacy reasons>  

Then, I cried in laughter as I tried to teach my niece how to say "Obama" and all that came out of her mouth was "Yo Mama!"

Today was a good day!  Tomorrow, we all have to get to working hard to getting America back on track.  I look forward to working with y'all towards that goal!

I had to spend the day at
Submitted by dbmcgaw on Tue, 01/20/2009 - 10:03pm.

I had to spend the day at work, including a conference call between 1130 and 1230 (how could it have been planned worse?), but I had the MSNBC feed running on my monitor and had only half an ear on the call.  The one good thing about the conf call was that I could close my door and weep without apology.

I retrieved the VCR tape at home and my wife and I re-watched the oath and the speech. 

Later there was a neighborhood party celebration: small house with 45 or so people squeezed together and reveling in the glory of the day.

Washington, Lincoln, FDR, Kennedy... these are the great ones.  I think it can be expected that Obama will join those ranks.

Washington,Lincoln,FDR,Kened
Submitted by BlakeyV on Wed, 01/21/2009 - 9:43am.

Washington,Lincoln,FDR,Kenedy...these are the great ones. I think it can be expected that Obama will join those ranks.

 

   Based off what, one day.

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