Wow.  What a day!  Yesterday, we spent the morning viewing the Inauguration with our extended family at a local party hosted by the groundbreaking Worldchanging folks at the Spitfire Grill.  Highlights, according to the Matisse Twins, have to be, in order of appearance: 1) the proclamation of Marian Robinson as the First Grandmother, 2) John Williams’ piece Air and Simple Gifts - beautifully played by Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Anthony McGill, and Gabriela Montero, 3) President Obama’s outstanding inaugural address, and 4) the soulful benediction by Rev. Joseph E. Lowery, the “dean of the civil rights movement”.

Tears of joy streamed down our faces as we saw the 44th President of the United States step into office.  As President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama stood together, bound forever in this momentous occasion in human history, they seemed a formidable and compassionate pair…able and ready to lead our nation with strength, dignity, and grace.

Later that evening, we found ourselves enmeshed in a throng of joyous revelers, banding together in the words of Woody Guthrie’s ‘This Land is Your Land’.  Never before had the lyrics rung true on such a deep, gut level:

When the sun came shining, and I was strolling
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
A voice was chanting, As the fog was lifting,
This land was made for you and me.

And the fog is lifting…and the sun is shining…and it’s a beautiful day!

XOX,

The Matisse Twins

photo credit: sreichenbach