And I’m feeling good?

As we climbed into bed last night, Loved-One and I had a mixture of relief and fear. I don’t quite trust that we won’t have one last blast of drama before January 20 over.

This morning, a pink sky lightens my heart and a fresh blanket of snow blanket glistens a message of renewal.

This old adage erodes my positivity:

“Red sky in morning, sailors take warning.”

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I choose to focus on the hope of renewal.

Is it naive to be hopeful? I held out hope four years ago.

It seems like every day something happened that made me say, “You’re not gonna believe what just happened,” And it wasn’t a good thing that happened.

From guarded hope to appalled disbelief, I followed not only what President Trump did and said, but how power impacted the moral compass of those around him and many who followed him. I saw how souls were bartered for political success. How “that’s just Trump being Trump” unleashed and ever-escalating flood of lies, until the Big Lie that culminated in a siege of our Capital.

Out of the depths of my despair, my heart breaks at the solemn memorial: 400 golden lights for the 400,000 souls sacrificed to COVID-19.

I still choose hope.

The guarded hope expressed by a Republican Senator as Joseph R. Biden, Jr., a Democrat is sworn in as President and Kamala Harris as Vice-President:

“We are more than we have been and we are less than we can be.” (Roy Blunt – R)

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And the truth is that we can be more. We’ve done it before, and we can do it again.

I wipe a tear as Jennifer Lopez sings: “This Land is your land, This land is my land.”

I’ll hold on to the words from the invocation, “Joy is the overflow of Love.”

We have a new President, Joe Biden. He is dedicated to ending this uncivil war; to opening our souls instead of hardening our hearts. As he quoted St. Augustine, “ We are defined by the common objects of our love.” Opportunity, security, honor, truth, dignity are what Americans love.

A lump chokes my voice as a try to sing “Amazing Grace” along with Garth Brookes. And I will never forget the wisdom of our first National Youth Poet Laureate:

“The norms and notions of ‘just is,’ Isn’t always justice” – Amanda Gorman

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