Beautiful Day

(Note: Written on Inauguration Day evening....)

It was a wonderful day. My feet are still covered in sand, my skin is still salty, and my belly is blissfully full with chicken enchiladas and jamaica. And while all of these things are great, the most wonderful part is that, as of today, the anticipation of a new beginning back home, with a new president and a new hope now found in the people, has been brought to fruition.

Last night, in anticipation of the healing that is to come in our homeland, the healing that we all need to do together and individually, we burned an effigy of the 43rd presidente--- just an article that we found in a magazine, but a representation of an effigy, nonetheless. And we said a group goodnight with hugs and an excitement for the next days events.

When I awoke in the middle of the night (as I do regularly here), the same sensation that flooded my head on election night swept through me. The love. The hope. The prayer for something better. And I lay awake and reveled in it once again, hoping that it was a sensation that will revisit me again throughout my life.

The place where we went to watch the event (with all of our friends) was packed wall-to-wall, with the TV behind the bar being projected onto the same wall that, no more than 2 weeks ago, we were watching an illegal copy of “The Curious Life of Benjamin Button.” There was something surreal and powerful about watching the inauguration proceedings in another country, even if we were still surrounded by a bunch of Americans. There is solidarity in knowing that we are all here for multiple reasons, but that we all dropped everything we had for one day to come together in a different country and watch something that we all helped to create at home (wherever that may be).

All ages were present, and multiple ethnicities, as well. The energy was so tangibly full of love, hope, a wish for peace---the collective deep sigh of relief was sitting over our heads, and we were all waiting for the chance to exhale together. Cheers, clapping, booing and hissing at all the right moments--- it was a spectacle to behold, for sure. But the best part? The tears. For 2 hours we cried together. And unlike 4 years ago where we were probably all crying in our own separate home places, these were tears of joy, of release, of accomplishment and pride. And when we were done crying, there was a deafening cheering and euphoria when that helicopter and limo departed with our former president and vice-president, signaling a new beginning and the end of what has seemed to be a never-ending administrative nightmare.

The rest of the day was spent talking with friends on a very windswept beach. What we’ve struggled with under the former administration. What we expect to see from the new. What we expect from ourselves and each other.

My feet are still sandy. My skin is still salty. My heart is full of love and hope and optimism and reality and collective relief. My shoulders feel lighter. My spirit feels content.

It was a wonderful day.