Shirlee Smith | This Inauguration Wasn’t Like the One We Went to

A friend asked me, back when she just knew Hillary was going to be elected the first woman president of the good ol’ USA, if I were going to DC for the historical occasion.

In 2009, I was there for the historical ceremony swearing in Barack Obama as the first (and more than likely only) African American elected to the most powerful position in the world.

It was an exciting and colorful adventure.

But what a difference!

My youngest daughter, who went with me to Washington, D.C., made sure to have chips, dips and other snack food ready for the televised “Trump Show” – not thought of by her as a real inauguration,  according to her view of the man she says is not her President.

Ironic, to say the least. “I’m not voting” she’s been known to announce when elections roll around. “My vote doesn’t even count” her pouting lips have been know to part, in utterance, many a time since she made the magic age of eighteen.

But the choice wasn’t left to her unpatriotic whim. She had to vote!

What a turnaround she’s made.

Trump, she declared to be stupid and a moron throughout the entire presidential campaign.

From time to time I would say, as any responsible parent should do when someone is being put down, “Maybe he’s not so stupid. Maybe he’s tapping into the thinking of people who will vote for what he says.”

“But, he’s a liar. He just talks, “ was her constant comeback.

Frankly, I was pleased to watch her follow the debates, voice her opinion and as I later learned, admonish friends of hers who had either not registered to vote or who were registered but didn’t bother to mark a ballot.

Chips, dips and other junk food along with an amazing display of Obama memorabilia she had purchased back in 2009 didn’t quite help her through The Donald’s speech or the parade she called boring even when I tried a positive spin by continually complimenting the blue outfit the new First Lady was sporting.

But my kid spotted the empty seats at the parade and made mention of the sparse crowd at the inauguration when the cameras pulled back.

And I thought, amiss the crunching of chips, she was actually searching for pokeman as her thumbs worked quickly on her electronic gadget. But she was taking it all in.

Multi-tasking – Trump vs Pokeman

When the “show” was over and while the news commentators were still annoying the two of us with their continuous chatter, daughter folded up her Obama souvenir blanket she’d pulled from her bedroom drawer and mumbled under her breath that we should have made plans to be part of the women’s next day demonstration at the Capitol.

It’s gonna be difficult to find a silver lining to the cloud called President Trump, but if nothing else, every household can use him as an opportunity to develop an understanding of the need for them to participate in every aspect of the process because all of us are going to be needed to shape our future.