concert of a life time

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I had a great afternoon going to the inauguration concert yesterday. Joan Walsh (my heroine for all things editorialized) from Salon wrote a great piece about the event. Please read it because I couldn't do any better describing the afternoon than she did.

My favorite part of the night was when we got to see shots of the 1st family. Malia and Sasha could not have been cuter. Bono was my favorite just because he so embodies the hope we have as a country right now. (When he mentioned that even Palestinians can have hope -- my heart fluttered) Garth Brooks was the best performer and got everyone riled up with "Shout" -- tons of fun.

Other than the inauguration tomorrow -- this might be the most historic event Jeff and I will ever go to. Memories of the March on Washington were conjured up and I can't help feeling as though I was part of something just as important -- especially when Barack Obama mentioned that despite the foundational memorials to Washington, Lincoln, and Roosevelt surrounding us on all sides, that the most crucial to the change we wish to seek now was what filled the spaces in between. Us. Me and all the people we were snuggled up with on either side of the reflecting pool.

It's times like these that make me sentimental. I can't help but think of my own grandparents and great grandparents -- people born in poverty -- as farmers, sharecroppers in Alabama. They certainly were not perfect, born in their time and place, they were embedded in racism. And now their granddaughter or great granddaughter-- who has never lacked for money -- is celebrating the first black president of the United States.

Despite all the fundamental differences I have with my ancestors, I am a product of of them as well. They are the ones that helped shape my deep sense of connectivity with humanity and the earth. They are the ones that taught my parents to love me and raise me in a way that is open to different ideas and worldviews.

Yes, much has changed -- but change embedded in the unchanging ideas of love, respect, and openness to possibilities.