The inauguration happened. Biden is president. Harris is the first woman to be vice president. The Senate is blue again (just barely, but I'll take it.)
We watched the ceremony with our kids, and it was very emotional. Particularly when Harris was sworn in, but even things like 'This Land is Your Land' got me choked up. The poem by Amanda Gorman was particularly moving as well. (Needless to say, the kids thought the whole thing was terribly boring, but we will remind them of it when they get older.)
I've been scared. Really scared - probably for most of these four years, but especially this year, and particularly since the siege of the Capitol. The fear has been getting better over the last week, but it wasn't until I heard Biden take the oath of office that I felt I could actually take a breath of relief. Hearing his speech was powerful for me. Certainly there have been better speeches, but he sounded like a real president, and his words resonated deeply with me.
Biden didn't rest on his laurels either, as soon as he was in the oval office, he started signing executive orders to undo some of the damage 45 had done. It's just a beginning, but it sent a strong message that things are going to get better. His cabinet picks are pretty amazing too, and I have a sense of optimism that's been absent for four years.
I hardly know what to do with myself without the enormous weight of worrying what new atrocity would be committed or what new injustice would be perpetrated by the now-ex-president. I feel physically lighter, and so much less tense. All that anger and fear is starting to go away. It will take time - I still want to see 45 brought to justice, and see him and his cronies punished for their crimes. But today was a good day, a very good day, in the midst of a horribly dark time.