January 20, 2009 Excitement in the Air!

All eyes on Washington. The change has finally come!


Since the mid-sixties, as a young middle schooler, my life of service and teaching began. Weekly, I went to the Baden Street Settlement House in Rochester NY and worked with the children in a partnered reading program. The nuns at the Academy of the Sacred Heart decided that our theology classes should be social action classes. Get our of the schoolrooms and let our actions speak. Be aware of our neighbors. Since then I have surrounded myself with like minded people, young and old, who are inventive in making life better for those who need help. Those who need help can be anyone, at any time. I think our new president is of the same mind. The change in our country and how we present ourselves to the world is going to be dramatic. Dramatic and possible.

The whistlestop speeches alone were inspiring. The concert on the Lincoln Memorial steps demonstrated how music can unify and create a community of believers. I'm one of the believers. I'm joyful. To see Obama and his family as our first family is a dream come true.
Today should be a holiday. Not sure how I'm going to teach my afternoon classes, the excitement will be hard to contain; and truthfully, why should it?

My sister Andrea Jepson is in Washington for Hawaii's Inaugural Ball. Can't wait to hear about the celebrations there. I'll be on the sidelines watching the wide screen at St. John Fisher. But sidelines or not, we'll all be there when President-elect Obama takes his oath. The crowd's cheer will roar, coast ot coast. I say, Yeah!