five generations: a letter to my mother

Dearest Mama,

See the woman in the purple coat?

She is being sworn in as the first Madam Vice President of the United States of America.

Her name is Kamala Harris and if I had not borne witness, I might not have believed it was real.

But I did...

and it is...

and I am in tears because I am so proud of how far our nation has progressed in just five generations.

I had to come out to Greenwich and tell you about this incredible event!

And, looking at the dates on the headstones,  I suddenly realized that Grandma would have cast her first ballot in the 1936 General Election - just a year before she had you.

She was born just a few years before the 19th Amendment the the U.S. Constitution gave women the power to vote.

That Amendment was ratified by Congress in 1920, just one hundred years ago.

She would have known all her life that she could vote when she came of age.

Frank and his first wife, the one I knew as the Jenkins High librarian, were born within a few years of Grandma, so they would have also grown up knowing they could vote when they came of age, which would have been for the 1940 General Election.

But here's the thing: Frank would have been able to vote then anyway, as a white male.

For Lorena Lee and Zaida Barry, voting was a brand-new right as an American citizen.

You would have grown up knowing that voting was a right, too.

The 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution had given the right to vote to men of color.

By the time you were born, citizen women of all ethnic backgrounds had been eligible to vote  in four Presidential elections.

Now, a woman has been elected as the Vice President of the United States!

I would have loved for you to have witnessed Kamala Harris taking the Oath of Office with me today, as I watched the proceedings on C-SPAN.

Yes, I know... me watching a news channel???

And for the second time this month???

As I said then, I felt compelled to see it for myself, to make sure I hadn't dreamt it, to verify the event was real.

And it was real and I watched for almost ninety minutes, from 11 AM until nearly noon30, before I even made coffee.

Breakfast was after all was done, so that meant 1 PM.

 

And I sent the photo of the new Vice President of the USA to important women in my life: Christina and her mom, my outlaw Melinda; to mi tres amigas Barbara and Carolyn and Sandy; to Christa, the zoom queen; to Lynn and Lauri, my baseball friends; to sisters-in-law Laura and Mary; to cousins Penny and Lynn and Sharon; to Sam and Morgan, my bff and her darlin' dancin' daughter.

I also shared the photo with men I love: Paul, out in California; Jeff, up in Michigan; Jeff the bfe physicist; Scott, the tall cool one; and Kevin, the bfrb.

How wonderful it had been to hear back from them all and discuss the events!

 

I had selected the superhero Miyah mug for my late breakfast and decided to use it as my new profile pic on fb.

Here's the message I posted.

"Rejoice, rejoice, all young girls! 

For the first time in 232 years, since George Washington was sworn in at the first inauguration, a WOMAN is Vice President of the United States of America! 

Anything, and everything, is possible!"

Within moments, the post had already gathered a collection of thumbs-up and hearts.

But I still felt the need to share this news with you.

Even though our visit was less than fifteen minutes, it made everything more real -

and provided that insight into the meaning of the 19th Amendment to the you and to your mother, my Grandma.

Thank you for that.

Thank you.

 

with much love always,

your one-and-only, ever-loving, daughter