Our Camelot

For years, I have felt gypped. Missing out. Deprived of a government I could relate to, denied an approachable First Family. How could I even begin to understand the Bush family, so steeped in drunken entitlement and monetary riches? Bushes, who always put on the air as if they were to the manor born. It's hard to feel a president understands your unemployment pain when his former life included owning a baseball team. (Yoo hoo- you're from TEXAS!) Before the Bushes, we had Carter, who was a peanut nerd, and Reagan, old. Clinton brought spirit and charisma, but his family life seemed stilted and strange.

Camelot. Its legendary mystique and fascination enthralled my parents and their generation. President Kennedy offered our country a colorful, fresh approach to government. Jackie in her parfait suits, and John John scampering under the Oval Office desk allowed us to share in a perfect family portrait we all longed to be part of. While I think we can debate exactly how much Kennedy contributed to this countries infrastructure, I don't think it can be argued how much passion Kennedy infused in all Americans. His youthful vibrancy, pretty wife, and pixie children made us all want to believe he was doing something worthwhile while he was in office.

My mother was hanging new curtains when John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Hanging curtains. Hanging curtains. She would say this whenever she was asked "where were you when?" Hanging curtains. It was forever etched in her memory. I'm wondering if she ever got around to finishing the task, as I don't remember those curtains. My mom said she bawled her eyes out for weeks, and it went down as one of the saddest events of her life.

I never understood this. How could she have been so despondent over a president? Someone she had never met. How could she have felt such a loss, such a fear of the future? Heck, I've always felt the mailman could step in for the prez and do some good deeds. I felt slighted. Disappointed. I wanted to feel this same passion about our country's leader.

Barack Obama had a pleasant closed-mouth smile on his face as he descended down the Capitol steps today. He joined his beautiful family next to the podium and was treated to a specially composed quartet piece headed by Yo- Yo Ma. Michelle Obama placed her hand on Mr. Obama's back during the interlude. It was a love pat. A genuine embrace of support, with a tad bit of "you're hot- I'm gonna shag you tonight" thrown in. At least that's how I saw it. It wasn't orchestrated as a display for the cameras on a beach after a very public Oval Office affair. Malia and Sasha were next to their father, and after he took the oath of office, he exchanged kisses and sweet smiles with them.

What we were all witnessing was a family's joy, a family's public love. This family has a wife who supports her husband while keeping him grounded. This family has two little girls whose father walks them to school. This family has a grand mom moving into the White House to be closer to her granddaughters. This was a family I understood. Whether of not it's accurate, they look like us, they hug like us, and they love like us. I'm buying the hope, the brighter future and the promises Obama is offering. I have to, as I've been captivated by my generations Camelot.
I grabbed onto Nora a little tighter as the swearing-in was complete, and a tear slid down my cheek.