History

I grew up in Birmingham Alabama. I was born in Houston Texas but we moved to Birmingham (really a suburb of it) right around 1968. Well, as history shows us this was not Birmingham's most finest times.

I went to an all white elementary, junior high and high school. We lived in an affluent (although we were not, we were most definitely middle/upper middle class but not affluent) city adjacent to Birmingham that was almost completely white. I mean my schools were so white that if people of color moved into my city they sent their kids to private school. I had no idea when I was a kid what happened "over the mountain" in the city of Birmingham.

After graduating from High School I went to a small liberal arts Methodist College. Where I was a sorority girl who attended the fraternity party called "Old South". The attendees dressed up in confederate uniforms and antebellum dresses. As I look back on it now I am mortified that I ever participated in such an event.

So on the eve of the historic inauguration of our first African American President, I am proud to say I voted for him. I am energized by the possibility of change and hope he inspires in me and millions of others. Every time I hear his voice, every time I listen to someone talk about him, every time I see pictures of him and his family, tears fill my eyes because I see for the first time in a long while the possibility of real change for our country.

My life now and how I choose to live it day in and day out is in such sharp contrast to that of my childhood and young adult life. I really have been racking my brain on how to talk about how all of this relates to my childhood, my family history, the history of where I grew up and I just haven't been able to put words to it. I am just speechless.

I hope as a nation we will be patient with this man. Give him and his people time to figure things out and get us back on course. I hope we pitch in a serve the best way each of us can. I have so much hope.