Today is a Brand New Day

At my sons' school, every child begins his or her day by saying,

Today is a Brand New Day.

It is the first line of the school pledge. Every student says those words aloud to start their day off with a good attitude, healthy self-control, and a positive outlook on what the day will hold. The teachers and students use the pledge to put yesterday's troubles in the background and to focus on the work (and fun) of the present and the future.

Today, as a country, we get to do the same thing.

During the campaign, Barack Obama said often

This is Our Moment
This is Our Time
It's time to Turn the Page

This is the day he was talking about.

Personally, I can't wait to see what possibilities lay ahead for us as a nation. I can't wait to see what citizens can come together to accomplish. I firmly believe that any change we hope to see in the United States must come from within; any action that takes us down the road of progress must originate with the person we see in the mirror in the morning. If the crowds in our Nation's Capitol are any indication, I am not the only one who feels that way.

So today I will listen to our new President with a hopeful heart and a positive attitude. And I will firmly commit to do what I can to make our country and my own community a better, warmer, kinder, more just place.

I hope Moms everywhere are tuned in to the possibility of this moment, of the children we are bringing up to believe in the ideal that is America. And even though we know in our hearts that ideals can never fully exist in reality, I hope we can all find small ways to inch reality a little closer to the 'perfect union' to which we aspire.

Yesterday is in the past.
Tomorrow is over the horizon.
But Today is a Brand New Day.

- Midwest Mom