Inauguration and Shipment Delivered

I hope everyone enjoyed the Inauguration today. Obama's speech was incredibly moving. It was just so motivating and alot of my co-workers were gushing about it. I just felt very inspired today about the direction we're all heading, the historical significance of this day. All eyes were on D.C. today, and I'm sure that goes for all over the world, except for mine.

I was listening at noon from my car radio since there was no television set up at work. I told my brother I was going to go out for lunch to get at least the audio version and in comes this e-mail from him.... "You have 12 minutes... go now." Heehee. It was sort of funny to me. I grabbed my purse and headed out, and out of fear of missing something, I started running to my car half-way through the parking lot, with the added pressure of finding a station once I got there. Of course it was already set to NPR so as I turned the key, Aretha Franklin was singing her heart out. She sounded like a lady who had seen alot, honestly.... sounded tired but she sounded like she was singing from her heart, I thought. Aretha Franklin sang while I drove to Burger Street, and then they swore Biden in, and while I'm in the drive thru, Isaac Perlman played his violin. The Burger Street people seemed oblivious to all of this. As the guy handed me my change, I wanted to say, "Obama is getting ready to give his speech, you're all missing something" and I wish I had, but I know to alot of people, this is just another day.

I parked quickly and ate my burger, listened to the presidential speech and I just had this funny feeling. People one day will ask me where I was the day they swore in Obama and I'll tell them I was in the Burger Street parking lot eating a celebratory double beef, double cheese (they're so good!) and listening. Hearing and not seeing is a unique experience. I felt like I'd gone back in time, back in the day of Truman or Winston Churchill, or Kennedy. It just had this really old world feeling. I'm glad I was by myself though... it was an emotional speech and I've already cried in public once this month.

During Obama's Inaugural speech, I actually got a bit misty eyed a few times and there I was, in the parking lot of the post office, mailing a little package to my brother! So if I just stay away from post offices, I won't cry! Aha! Seriously, there was just such a sense of hope and promise in the air. It was quite an emotional day for so many people..... and I think I'm just a bit weepy because I hit a little milestone today. My paperwork made it to Ethiopia this morning. Yesterday when I checked the DHL website, it had arrived in Frankfurt Germany. Tonight it said, "Shipment delivered. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia." What a fantastic day! Monumental on many levels.