Is that not THE best combination ever?
My lunch was made, I’d gulped my coffee and I was glumly heading to my car, already dreading the messy evening commute home from Norfolk.  (It’s a foul commute even before you add snow and slush and ice.)  And then my gloating 9th grader, who’d already been pardoned for the day by the Virginia Beach City School system, announced: “Old Dominion University is closed too!”  Woo hoo!  I acted more like a kid than my kid.

It’s not that I don’t like teaching – I love it.  But nothing beats my little cedar home, and the gang that crowds it.  Plus, I’ll get to do some writing and reading and book club planning today.  But the big bliss: I thought I’d just be stealing web glimpses of the inauguration from my sterile desk – getting it piece meal.  Now, thanks to this magical weather system, I can actually bear witness alongside my family.  We’ll be watching wide-eyed, sprawled on our cushy couch beside a busy fire when history presents itself.  Whatever your politics, this is a proud day for every American: our first black President — more proof that lines can be crossed, ignored or erased; and that although history always defines us, it does not trap us, or keep us from adding to our stories.

Once again: Overreach!