I Have a Dream Too

Tomorrow is a big day. The first day that "Yes We Can" will be tested. Can we? Will we? Will I?

Clearly, big changes need to take place in my own life and also in the life of the country. Will we pony up? Are we up to it? It's gonna get harder before it gets better for a lot of us and I wonder if we - I - have the kahunas to make it happen. I think I do.

I hope I do.

No, I do. I absolutely do.

I listened to Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech today and I thought about how a big part of that dream is coming true tomorrow. It's monumental. It's historic. It's unbelievable! How fantastic that we are transforming into a time of hope. Hope for this country's troubled times and hope that this country is making such strides in the fight against racism. A long way to go but a long way come.

As I watched all of the coverage on the various talk shows and news channels today I reveled in this great feeling of hope and excitement. To be a witness to this kind of history. To want to keep my daughter home from school to watch it all happen. In a way, there are no words to clearly express how big it feels.

But....then....I felt kind of sad about that. I must be nuts, I thought. Sad? Really? What a freaking downer you are Rachel.

That's when I realized it. I have a dream too. I dream of the day when a black man - or woman - being sworn in as president is not historic. Is not new. Becomes so common that it's "no big thang" as they say. I dream of the day when the same is true for a Latino American or an Asian American or a Jewish American. The day that we all truly have become simply, Americans.

That's the country that I dream of for my daughter and my daughter's daughter. A country whose citizens looks back at video from the year 2009 when a black man named Barack Obama becoming President was so huge and they'll wonder at that. Even giggle at how silly our country was that it hadn't happened sooner.

In the meantime, I will enjoy tomorrow for all that it is in this time in our history. I will let myself feel that excitement and live in the moment.

And hope still - always - for a better future.