A New Day for My Children

I got a twitter from a reporter I respect in Austin saying that it seemed strange to her that this was Bush's last day in office and that he had been the President her whole adult life. That got me to thinking who was the President when I was a young adult. Well, I campaigned for Carter to win a second term when I was at college. At Baylor. In Waco. That's the short version of why I didn't really fit in well there. Would you believe Carter campaigned in Texas? He flew into the small airport in Waco and I was there. We know who won that round, so yeah, nearly my entire 20's were spent with Reagan in office. I thought it was simply awful, and an immoral time, with the rise of the Christian right and their hating on the least and the last and the lost. I taught public school in a district that was minority majority. The kids came from homes where parents hadn't gone to college and they needed someone to inspire them to dream of something better for themselves. Instead they had Reagan ranting on welfare moms (which were many of their moms). What I heard from my President and his Galliano dressed wife did not match my experience in the real world. It dawned on me while I was thinking back on it, that my 18 year old son is about to spend his young adult life with Barack Obama as his President. What a wonderful gift this is to him. I wish our new president much success and that the sense of hope so many feel today will last for eight years. Kids my son's age deserve this. They've had the spectre of war over their heads as they've grown from being children eight years ago to adults today. One of the saddest and upsetting days I've had with my children was four years ago after Bush was re-elected. It hit my young daughter hard. She came home from school very angry the day that Kerry conceded saying she would never like Wednesday's at one o'clock again (which was the day and time he conceded). The child was nine years old. And, yes, she is her mother's daugher. That wasn't the worst of it, though. The bad moment came when we went out to eat soon after that and she burst out crying, "I don't want Bush to send my brother to war!" I'm so happy for my wonderful children, who I love more than I can express, who are everything to me, that they are embarking on the next eight years of their lives with a President they can admire and who will help them see the world as a place of opportunity, and yes, hope. May God bless you and our great nation, Barack Obama.