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A day late and a dollar short – VERY short, in this economy. I wrote this blog entry shortly after the Presidential Inaguration and didn’t publish it. Here are my thoughts from a month ago:

Without a doubt, this has been a momentus week. I’m not talking about anything I’ve personally done or have done with Tory, but in the world at large. I risk putting my political heart on my sleeve (and I really won’t here) but I would like to take a moment to express my gratitude for small things that I take for granted on a daily basis. The little things that I don’t overtly recognize on a daily basis but ever now and again, I owe it to the universe to pay gratitude for them.

This past Tuesday not only marked the historic swearing in of this nation’s first African-American President, but a peaceful transition of governmental power. That’s the only thing that made this inauguration uneventful. This consciecous thought didn’t occur to me until today when I was outside gathering some tinder to start a wood fire. It’s frigid cold but bright and sunny with the bird’s song tinged with a hint of spring. Under my down jacket were my Pjs and purple flowered Muck boots on my feet. My happy Sheltie, Pearl, pranced beside me as I scanned the side of the driveway for dead branches sticking out of the snow. We live out in the middle of the woods so there is an abundance of wood everywhere. As the sun warmed my face, I instantly thought of NPR reports I have heard over the years of military and civil unrest in countries far away from me where women live in daily fear for their lives as they go collect their firewood. The fear of ambush, land mines, sniper fire, kidnap and the worst, rape. How grateful I felt in that moment that I could stand there in the snow with my bucket, dressed in my PJs collecting firewood and not fear for my life. The peaceful handing-over of power on Tuesday guarateed me that moment of freedom from fear. I then heard a plane overhead and didn’t give it a second thought. No thoughts that in the next second a bomb would fall, or enemy troops were moving into the area. The sound just faded away after awhile only to be replaced by another. Just backgorund noise, nothing to ne concerned about.

The pictures from Inauguration Day were also inspirational in the huge assembly of people from everywhere. The volume, the colors, the stories, the journies – it was the most uplifting thing I have witnessed in my short life. We have the right to gather in such numbers without the fear of violence from the police or military. We’ve learned the rules over the years – from the time we are young and throughout our lives. Rules that have survived and been reverved as the “way of life” in the US for the past 200 years. Isn’t it an amazing thing? We can voice our opinions about things we like and don’t like about these rules and have even changed and added a few over time. Now, I’m not trying to be Pollyanna about the rule of government in our country – there are certainly problems, loop holes and drawbacks. The aspect I’m stressing here is the lack of fear due to these rules. At least, the lack of fear and the gratitude I feel for that. The gratitude I feel for the women who came before me and fought for the right for women to vote and work in jobs only men had. My Mom has been in the military for close to 40 years and is fiercely proud of that. I’m proud of her too!

Like I said, I’m not one to wear my political heart on my sleeve as I really don’t have one. I know I take many freedoms for granted. Complacency is bliss, isn’t it? Not really but it certainly feels comfortable there.