Yesterday, after an emotion-filled day witnessing the inauguration of President Barack Hussein Obama, I picked up my daughter from her afterschool care program. She was a bouncing ball of unrestrained energy.
Her first words as she climbed in the car: "Mommy, he's President now...yesterday he wasn't, but today he is."
"Who baby?"
"Barack Obama. He's president now. I watched the whole speech...all 15 minutes. I watched the whole thing."
We continued to discuss the events of the day as we arrived home, ate dinner and into the night. At bedtime, I felt compelled to bring this historically significant day to a loving, cuddly conclusion so we headed off to bed together.
As we cuddled in bed, the topic was still the inauguration. No bedtime story tonight.
So, I asked her, "Who else was there?"
She answered, "Yo-Yo Ma".
I was impressed. She was paying attention. She commented on Aretha Franklin's hat and how pretty it was with the sparkly bow.
I pulled out my iPhone to share the "America's Song" video with her from yesterday's post. And upon request, I had to play it several times over. Before long, we were singing a duet...I had the male parts (Bono, Seal, will.i.am) and she, of course, had the female sections (Mary J. Blige, Faith Hill). We were "rocking out", me fighting back the tears, overwhelmed by the instinctual beauty of the moment.
As she drifted off to sleep last night, she just kept repeating a phrase of the song. I closed my eyes and silently listened to her sweet voice in the darkness, which definitely and finally prompted the release of a few tears, as she sang her last words of the night, "America is beautiful". And then, silence.
One Love, Se'Lah
2 comments:
I absolutely love this story! I was right there with you in bed. It brought tears to my eyes and I know that she knows of this monumental occasion because she has loving parents who are living the example of the American dream. She knows and feels your positive energy and hears your voice of excitement. We are the best teachers – parents!
This one I really was like “wowed”. It is interesting how you never notice that children just absorb things and consider them so interesting and passionate.
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