Celebrate the Inauguration Through Service (with your Mom!)

This weekend I'll be traveling south for the presidential inauguration. But I'm not going to D.C.

I'm going to Haverford, Pennsylvania, to share this momentous event with my 92-year old mom and her friends. This is probably one of the most important, not to mention historic, days in my mom's long life. She has been a community and political activist all of her life, quietly advocating for women’s rights, for birth control for unwed moms, for peace before and during all of our wars, for voters' rights for the disenfranchised, for civil rights, for economic empowerment, for literacy, for gay rights, and for workers' rights. The fact that she has lived to witness the swearing in to office of Barack Obama and that he is both a symbol of, and a champion for, everything she has worked for all these years is wonderful.

Every time I talk to her on the phone, she says, "I can't believe we did it!" Of course, she's not just talking about putting a black man in the white house. She's talking about taking back control of our government and becoming good global citizens.

On Monday, January 19th, my mom and I will be participating in what the Obamas are calling a "National Day of Service" on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. We'll be helping local schoolchildren who are pooling their pennies and putting together emergency kits for young people in need. It's a small thing, but it will feel great to be part of history and to be involved. It's easy to find (or to host) a service event in your community—(see USAservice.org).