What a Week!

Where do you start with a week like this one?

I sobbed nearly all day Tuesday, watching the inauguration with Abby most of the day and enjoying the up to the minute updates by my friends attending and posting pix on facebook. I am so proud, so hopeful, just like nearly everyone else, it seems!

I was struck by the huge positive spirit of the crowd, by the amount of people who were there (and arrived at 3 am!), and most of all, by the very serious and somber tone of Obama's speech. I watched it live that day, listened to it on NPR that afternoon, and read it online last night. Every time, I heard authority, a refusal to give in to fear, and an attempt to go beyond the popular phrase to the more complete, complex idea about a timeless values. Finally, I emerged liking his seriousness and intentionality, however disconnected it seemed to the popular feeling of the day.

The rest of my week was a blur. Wednesday was spent travelling to meetings in Durham and ended with a fabulous work dinner in a 5 star restaurant followed by a recouperating swim in a very strangely shaped and decorated hotel pool. Thursday I was in NY, and ended my grueling first teaching day on the snowy and pretty Columbia campus (see pic) with 4 extra hours stuck in LaGuardia, running into some work colleagues from VA that had been talking about me earlier that day, and hit my bed at home finally at midnight.

Back home on Friday, it was an intense day at home with both kids, as Jake was too sick to go to school. Today, finally, some fun - a morning playdate with one of Jake's friends from school. Actually one of his admirers. A gorgeous little girl (not even in his class!) who adores him and was dying for him to come over. She grinned from ear to ear the entire time we were there, had made Jake some valentines before we arrived, and made him paper fans while we were there. And I liked chatting with her mother. A new friend?

Perhaps most newsworthy of the week, was the discovery that my friend and former employee Jason attended an event with the Obamas on Monday (he's known Michelle for years) and ended up with his infant son's pictures in all the papers, including the FRONT PAGE of the NY TIMES on TUESDAY! Amazing. Little 10 month old Jedi (short for Jedidiah) ended up on the front page in Bangkok and beyond. See this story. Oh, and I guess that also means I am two degrees from the President. Amazing.