Dear Dad -

You won’t believe what’s going on. I’ve been crying off and on all day - but don’t worry. They are tears of joy. We finally have a good president again. And what’s more he’s black. You can’t believe the pictures of the people dancing in the streets. And not just in America; all over the world. Maybe it will be nice to be an American again.

His name is Barack Hussein Obama (if you can believe THAT!) He has a REALLY smart wife and two adorable children. People have been comparing him to John F. Kennedy, which is kinda bothersome but understandable. Everything you said about the economy and money has come true and I think people are just looking for a saviour. If anyone can fix it, it will be President Obama.

In the days leading up to the Inauguration there were stories of black men and women that were going to attend that had lived through years of picking cotton and were now going to be able to witness an African American taking the Oath of Office of President of the United States. Isn’t that amazing? There were stories of people going in place of family members who couldn’t get off work to attend the ceremony. There were stories of parents pulling their children out of school and driving across country so they could all see history being made together. There were stories of high school students skipping school to see Obama say the oath. And during the entire day of mayhem, celebration, and chaos there wasn’t one, NOT ONE arrest in the entire District of Columbia. How could there have been? There was too much love and peace and happiness being shared by the entire country.

I guess you probably know all of this since you seem to keep a close watch on me. Heck - for all I know you watched everything happen with Martin Luther King, Jr. and Abraham Lincoln! But I wanted to let you know how incredible it was for me, and I wish we could have watched it together. I would have liked to have taken away your wisdom about it. If it had been before you had ALS we could have attended it together. On second thought no - you wouldn’t have wanted to go.

Everything else is fine here. Except I miss you. I know you are having fun, though, not having ALS anymore. Thanks for coming back and visiting so often. It helps.

See you again soon -

Debi