Jessica's Blog

Hubby sent me this link to Maureen Dowd's op-ed in the NY Times and my eyes got misty.

IT's a funny thing, I've been humming "Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey.... Goodbye!" as well.  I did not know that the crowd in front of the White House was doing that!  I know that on 1/20/09 it will be my earwig.

I have loved every trip I've ever taken to Washington DC and I loved reading Dowd because she so elloquently and succinctly expressed so much of what I have been thinking of our capital city.  I now look forward, with great anticipation, to taking our family there (once Little Lady is out of diapres, I think).  To romp on the lawns, see the museums and monuments.  It is a new day in the that town and I know the energy there will be shifting in a whole new and different way.

Hubby has expressed interest in going to DC and I have said point blank, "Not during this administration" as the city really does take on a different flavor depending on who is in office.  Friends of my mother who live there have tactfully and carefully expressed the more conservative air.  Us vs. Them.  You're with us or against us.  You're American or Un- American. Security.

When I was a kid and went to DC, I remember so well being 6 years old and looking up at my dad and asking him why he was crying at the Lincoln memorial.  He tried to explain, and all he could say was "were it not for him, you would not be here today."  The museums were a marvel, I remember holding Dad's hand and having him explain to me everything he could about aeronautics, space, mummies....  Then again in high school and college I made trips to our capital with my sister (who attended Johns Hopkins.. a small train trip away), with my mother(during her conferences), with friends.  Once during the Bush Administration (the FIRST Bush). Other times during the Clinton administration.  It was so colorful and open and fun.  I studied at the Library of Congress.  I revisited the Lincoln memorial with a more keen awareness of our history.  I was struck dumb as tears came while walking through the Vietnam memorial on a cool autumn night. 

As we age the whole point of these memorials becomes so much more real.  And yet, just as Dowd wrote so well.... their presence seemed to make no difference recently.  Similar mistakes made.  History not studied.  Lessons refused to be learned from those before us.

You can see where I am going with this.  Let's all keep up the HOPE.  Keep up the WORK.  Keep up the knowing that what was sewn for 8 years will be reaped, not neccessarily by those who sewed those seeds... and we need to stick together and stick it out.  We can't expect the open gushing wounds of our country to heal for some time yet.  Let's work.  Let's be patient.