Steady streams of sunlight curled through the blinds to where I lay, reminding me to get out of bed, and turn on the TV. This is America's Inauguration Day, and I do not want to miss any of it.You may not be as happy as I am about who our new president will be , and who is leaving Washington, D.C. , but this post is not intended to create a political tug of war between us. I would like to share with you some perspectives about this day, and some other recent days.

For a month I've waited for needed sugery, and have another week to go. This morning, while I was turning on the T V, my phone rang, and a voice said it was my insurance company. Not wanting to miss any of the Inauguration, at first I wanted to ask if I could call her back, but decided that might get complicated. Have you tried getting through to your insurance place? Not a good idea, so I let the caller speak. She said my surgery is approved, but I may have to pay twenty percent of the surgeon's charges, and knee replacement requires two of them. That amount, plus other expenses, and sizeable co-payments will take a hefty chomp from my savings, and that is scary but I must have the surgery. Before we end the call, the young sounding woman said if she didn't have to be at work, she would be home watching the inauguration, too.

I am grateful such outstanding medical people will take care of me, in a state of the art growing medical facility that is already a trauma center. I feel special appreciation for nursing staff, for I know the work loads they carry, and I understand shortages of nurses and doctors are growing. But before I become so engrossed with my particular case, I would like to take you back to some other days before the changing of our president.

At church last week, as people gathered a little early to allow for visiting, a daughter of a couple sat close by, holding pages of slightly wrinkled homework, and a pen or two. I love hearing their answers and explanations of things, and asked her what she is studying. "Latin", she said quite matter of factly, as she used the blunt end of a pen to push her glasses higher above her nose. A slight movement of her hair that spilled onto her shoulders just exuded convinced confidence. "So what do you do with this Latin?" I asked this third grader.,and she showed me her word practice. Jumped right in to details of how it works. Used words I hadn't heard of, words like "derivative", and quickly explained their meanings, as I wondered why schools I was in never taught me some Latin.

This little girl, who cares so much about learning she brings homework to church, is one of the many I believe President Obama wants to make certain has quality teachers and classrooms, with small enough numbers of students so that her fresh zeal to learn is not squelched. She, and generations following her deserve this, and our generation doing what we can to pay this forward for them, is the least we can do to make sure it is done.

A close neighbor's husband died a few days before Christmas. Every now and then since, I've made it a point to take something over, even if it was a small something. The lady came to the door with a small blanket around her shoulders, so I thought maybe she was just fighting off sadness, or maybe feeling ill.

She told me she's o.k., but also said they are losing their house, and will move soon. While she seemed brave about it, and emphasized how much less houses cost where she's going, I noticed a quiet helplessness in her voice. I believe she's the first on this block to lose her home. The chilling feeling across my own back when she told me, makes me wonder whose may be next.

A few nights ago I had just come home, and was walking from my car, when this neighbor's grandson called out and hurried over. He was holding something in his hands that he quickly showed me, a Bible he tried to describe while struggling with words. I didn't try pronouncing them for him. Pronunciation was not what he needed. He wanted to tell someone about gettinh his very own Bible, and what that means, and I think he described it greatly. He almost stuttered, then started again, saying "God Is, God is" "You know". er, God is above everything." I would not think of changing his words.

The next day I was still awed about the the neighbor's grandson, and remembered his saying people from a church somewhere were visiting regularly with his Grandma and Grandpa, and suddenly I knew why I had bought an old fashioned Childrens Bible a few years ago, and kept it. Sometimes we may not know for certain why we do something at the time, but I'm pretty sure God planned it long ago. I took the Children's Bible that's loaded with pictures, and easy to read, to my neighbor, for the children, and she seemed to appreciate getting it. I figure, if I can't do a great big something to lighten someone's day, I can at least offer a small one.

Often I'd see my neighbor and all their family members load into the car on Sundays, and assumed they went to church somewhere, but I never asked. The next time I have a new neighbor, I think I will.

But back to the matter of our getting a new president, and the history of it spilling from the T.V., and my not thinking about surgery, or our national economy as the grandeur of today increased.

I was thinking of the money aspect of now, while in Walmart last evening, to get a prescription the doctor called in related to the surgery, and of things I want a supply of for afterwards, like coffee. I am standing before the Folger display, carefully comparing several choices, to find the one that makes the most cups of it. A kind sounding voice asks if I need help, and I'm not sure if it's because of my limp, or about which kind of coffee to get. The helpful customer talks about when she and her mom lived together, and liked different coffees, and since I'm not going anywhere anyway, I listen to her, feeling a little silly that I'm making such a production out of trying to save on the cost of it.

I choose a can and thank the kind lady, and make my way back to the pharmacy to check on the prescription, and learn they don't have what the doctor ordered, and am relieved that I don't have to spend thirty dollars for it.

Today was not only a triumph for our new president. It is also my grandson's (whose future looked really bleak a few years ago) first day of classes at a local college, a time to head his life and his future in better directions, but this probably would not have come about, had there not been a serious rehabilitation program available to help him with much of it. As I hope for my grandson to do well with his studies, I consider how our new president might have felt, even worried about how he would do in college when he started. But the results of his believing he could stands before us today, today, and because of that, other young students may also believe they can achieve great things.

During the inauguration a news person quoted Franklin D. Roosevelt's quotation about the only thing we need to fear in the Great Depression, was fear itself. I am trying hard to stay away from the negativity of the one we are in, and have a plan of how to do this. I believe, like Shakespeare, that we can make ourselves a Heaven or a Hell by what we say and what we think, and that includes the music we choose to listen to. I've taped two awesome hymns, two tapes, one for the car and another for the house. The first one I mentioned recently, after a special blogger pointed it out, titled elegantly, I think; "Give Thanks". Something about being grateful dissipates our fears. I listen to "Give Thanks" again and again and again.

The other hymn I first heard on my daughter's blog, Christian music I don't think you can hear and not be moved by. In the post that included it, my daughter, Bev, at "Scratchin' The Surface", or her new blog: "Life Of Grits" figuratively kicks off her shoes and is running as fast as she could, to meet our Lord as this hymn plays louder and louder.

This song rivals even our President's March. I wish I knew how to include the sound of it here. The size of the title doesn't indicate how great it is. As I end this post, here are some lines from it which Nicole C. Mullin so eloquently sang on the CD of "Redeemer":

Who told the sun to stand in the morning?
Who told the ocean you can only come this far?
Who showed the moon where to hide til evening?
Whose words alone can catch a falling star?
(and then the chorus)
Well, I know my Redeemer lives, my Redeemer lives.
All of creation testifies; this life within me cries,
I know my Redeemer lives.