Comic Relief

I think it is a child's duty to provide levity during solemn moments. A child will burp and giggle (loudly) during silent prayer at church. A child will say something unexpected in Grandma's presence. And a child will unintentionally say something hilarious during a serious moment.

I was so happy to have made it home from physical therapy this morning to catch the few minutes before the start of the inauguration. I turned on the TV just as Laura Bush began her descent down the steps. I was speaking to Don at the time on the phone and asked who the woman was next to Mrs. Bush. "I think that must be her mother," Don said. A minute later, I heard it was Lynne Cheney. Oops.

I found myself getting extremely emotional. Our experience at Clinton's inauguration was nothing like what was displayed on the screen this morning. The vast ocean of humanity stretched for those two long miles on the Mall ... I got wave upon wave of chills just seeing, absorbing, digesting it all. It's magnificence. It's magnitude. I was near tears ...

... until Dick Cheney was wheeled down the hall.

Grace took one look at that old man sitting in the wheelchair and said:

"Ooooh, look, Mommy! Is that George Washington?!"

She was so earnest, so convinced ... and I burst out laughing. What a moment.