What do I know about American politics? I’m just a mom from Canada. But was I mesmerized by the Presidential election this past year? ABSOLUTELY. Completely and utterly addicted – to the point that I didn’t argue when my kids said, “You like Obama better than us”.
So, when Inauguration Day arrived, I made sure I was kid-free for the day, invited two Obama-friendly gal pals over and hunkered down to watch every single possible second of TV coverage. And it was thrilling to see the first African American President sworn in. It felt like a new era, a fresh start. It was moving.
Fighting tears, I turned to share the historic moment with my Obama gal pals and my jaw dropped. Why were my two friends sitting together on the couch with their shirts off? Had Obama inspired a Lesbian moment? What the hell was going on??
I could see crisscrossing, up and down, straight and curvy, a web of thin lines across both of my friends’ exposed torsos. Laughing, cajoling and commiserating, these two moms weren’t having a lesbian moment (although that would have been perfectly alright) they were in fact telling the stories of their scars from multiple surgeries. They were cancer survivors.
Forget Obama, the dawn of a new era, blah, blah, blah….here were two women who had been to hell and back and had survived! AND they were laughing together! I was in awe. The array of scars across their bellies was a reminder to me of this crazy ability humans have to endure, persevere, over come and amazingly to heal. At that moment, I didn’t see rivers of scars, but a stunning testament to each of my gal pal’s ability to mend, to come together, to be whole again.
When I turned back to the TV to watch the rest of the inaugural proceedings, there was a grinning President Obama, his (let’s face it) hot wife and J. Crew clad daughters waving to the crowds. Then it dawned on me (ZOINKS!): here in my own wee living room was a personal kind of healing and there on the flat screen TV – on a crazy, colossal, gigantic scale – was another kind of healing. As Obama waved to everyone, I saw a nation beginning to mend its open wounds and starting to heal from the past.
When I FINALLY turned the TV off late that night – too worn out to follow President Obama and Michelle to ALL their balls – I wasn’t sure what had impressed me more about the day – Obama’s historic success or my gal pals’ personal triumphs. Either way, I was truly inspired.
