Inauguration Day

From Inauguration Photos

After taking Levi to school, we came home and bundled up and headed to 125th St. and Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. Adam Clayton Powell, by the way, was the first African American elected to Congress from New York.

Once there we were joined by hundreds of our fellow New Yorkers and we all stood in the cold, elated by what we were witnessing on the big video screen. One of the coolest moments was when Rick Warren started to recite the Lord's prayer during the invocation, the crowd followed along with him. It was so moving to be in the midst of that crowd praying that prayer.

The part of Obama's speech that made the biggest impact on me (and the crowd) was:

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

Here are some pictures we took of the day.