"Hope over fear"

There's a lot to say, and yet not enough words to say it. I'm here in Washington, D.C. My vantage point for the actual swearing in was severely limited, but the crowds of people, the hustlers peddling merchandise, the exhuberance in the voices of attendees--it's exciting and overwhelming. The anticipation the last couple of days as we walked on the National Mall has been uplifting.

Here are a few random thoughts that occur to me now:

1) Michelle Obama's outfit is a beautful color and she wears it like she's a woman to be reckoned with.

2) Please, please, no one buy the T-shirt I saw on the street that read: I was there and you wasn't. If you can't manage to get the grammar right, you don't deserve my money.

3) Why didn't the President (ah, I smile every single time I hear it now) have a hat on his head?! I know how cold it was out there! I know this jumbotron image (see below) is about as far away as the sun, but surely it's cold way up there, too.

4) John Roberts, didn't you, like, practice the two lines you had to present today? It was kind of important to get it right.

5) Did I just see Michelle Obama tell her girls to "get down from there"? She looked out of the corner of her eyes, and I could just barely read her lips, saying, "No" and something else, and following with "So . . . ." with a turn of her head; it looked a lot like she was "checking" them. Maybe it's just me, but I think I've seen that scenario before; I think I've created that scenario before.