A new day in America...

When it was still dark out and the moon was shinning in the sky, I heard the distinctive buzz of a repeated bell.  The cawing sound was not unlike a crow screeching in my ear at a repetitive and exact pace.  I looked over at the clock from which this sound was issuing and groaned.  It was 5:00am.  

Pushing the snooze button, I rolled over to try and continue sleeping but the repeated sound burst out almost instantly.  "Okay, okay," I told myself, "It is for a good cause.  You'll regret it if you don't," I pushed myself up, and slid my feet onto the cold floor. The chill caused me to suck in my breath and run to my closet.  I pulled on my trousers, grabbed a t-shirt and a cardigan, and went to wash my face.  

My parents sat in the kitchen with coffee.  Though both are early risers, they didn't seem too keene on the time either.  

My parents, a friend of mine, and I headed out.  We met up with my cousin and her daughter on the way.  

The First thing we saw was a booth for throwing shoes at President George W. Bush.  This of course occurred because of the instance of someone throwing a shoe at him recently.

Then, there it was, the sunrise on City Hall.  The Golden glow infused the building and the place with the feeling of the day: Hope.  

That is right, Hope.  Hope and Change.  People were awake and together in the early morning smiling.  Men were singing "Our Country 'tis of thee, Sweet Land of Liberty," their eyes damp with emotion.  Women chanted "O-BAM-A! O-BAM-A!" their arms swaying in the air.  

We all watched as the Inauguration ceremony began.  First with the old and new First Families leaving the White House and boos echoed across the mass of people I was standing with.  I could see from his face on the screen that President George W. Bush was cringing and I could imagine that people were booing at him in DC too.  I felt bad for him.  I really did.

Then we saw him, Barack Obama, and the crowd irrupted with cheers.

The masses were tight but we all stood together through the various parts of the Inauguration ceremony.  

First Joe Biden was sworn in to the office of Vice President and I could feel the tension in the crowd begin to ease and the signs of relief begin to issue from those around me.

Then it came, the moment that we had all woken up so early for.  It was the reason why we all stood in a mass for hour, it was the reason we felt hope again: Barack Obama stood up on the podium to take his oath of office as the 44th President of the United States of America.

We all stood and watched as he lifted his hand and said the words that would make him ours.  As soon as the words issued from his lips, an explosive wave of joy radiated through the crowd, through the country, and our eyes streamed, our lips parted, and together we raised our hands up into the air, and let our feelings flow out as one nation, free at last.

Location: Civic Center/City hall, San Francisco, CA, U.S.A.