The day after the inauguration my small group of friends who meet every week on my deck or in my back yard came over, and we talked a lot about our feelings and emotions when Joe became the President, and the ceremony, etc. We were all rejoicing that we actually had a president again, finally. By the people, for the people, of the people. And well we should have been, rejoicing as we all raised a glass of champagne to President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris. It was seriously a joyous occasion.

The biggest, and most prevalent emotion that we felt was, I believe, relief. We all felt like we were coming off of a period in which we were always tense, slightly fearful, never knowing from where we would get blindsided again. Every morning I would wake, and just check my Apple News on my phone, just to make sure the headlines were not that 45 had gotten us into a war or some other horrible thing as we slept. There were often those jaw-droppers that came with his middle-of-the-night tweets, as he governed using them. Such a typical bully he was, pumping people up to hate and spread fear, and then hiding, coming out only on Twitter, unable to actually fact the people he was affecting.

But he’s gone, as are those damned tweets, and his annoying antics. For the last 4 days I have awakened and not felt the need to check my phone at all, not reading the news at all until I have a nice hot cup of coffee in my hand, and not even then do I read it. I skim the headlines, reading what interests me, but not having any of that fear at all. Yes, relief.

I actually feel a little PTSD from those 4 years, but it mixes with what I already have from a long abusive marriage, so I’m not really blaming anyone. Just saying I have not quite stopped wincing when the minions of his make enough noise that someone writes about them, but the fear of something absolutely asinine happening while we slept and weren’t paying attention is floating away, going down river, and dissipating into the vast sea and sky.

Yes, we are relieved, first I think. And because we recognized the relief President Biden has given us, we are joyous. I hope we can remain that way for the next 4 years.

Love and light to all.