What Makes Me Happy

My nieces are amazingly cute, I think.

No.

Wait.

I think that's objective.

My nieces are amazingly cute.

Ellie is now at a point where she can actually hold a conversation with me, which is awesome, and Cara, while not quite there yet, is a master of the call and response uttering, listening, responding, and so forth.

And while this, in general, makes me happy, I had a recent conversation that I found to be particularly hopeful.

It was shortly after the election, and I was talking with Ellie, and asking her if she had heard about the election - did they talk about it at her school? She said yes, and we talked a little bit about how Obama was our new president.

Adrianne had told me that her teacher had explained that this was a big deal because he was our first African American president, and, more than that, the first time that a minority was in such a visible position of power. Blah, blah, blah. So I asked Ellie about this, and in her kid-like agreeability, she affirmed all the things I was saying about how important that was, and what a big deal this was for society.

"Uh huh."

But it was in talking to 3-year-old Ellie and understanding that she didn't really grasp the gravity of what had just happened, that I found the most poignant reason for feeling hopeful: realizing that she was part of a generation that would grow up to accept the concept of a black man running for, and winning, presidency of the United States, as common, the simple reality that they've grown up with and accepted as life.

I just really think that's inspiring. Thanks, Ellie. I can't wait to watch the steps your generation takes to help move the world forward with open minds, open arms, into a wide-open future of possibility.