"Come on up for the Rising! Come on up, lay your hands in mine!"

"Come on up for the rising

Come on up, lay your hands in mine
Come on up for the rising
Come on up for the rising tonight" -B. Springsteen

Okay, so today the most exciting moment for me, is when we are down at the mall, moving toward the entrance to the welcome concert and all the sudden you see this choir in red on the steps of the Lincoln memorial. Really, they are many, many little red dots spread out across the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Then, a little dot dressed in black joins them on the stage. (Because from where I was, everything was pretty much a little dot of some kind.) And the little choir dots begin singing "The Rising" by Bruce Springsteen. In perfect, awesome harmony. I love perfect, awesome harmony. It sends perfect, awesome chills down my neck. And then it hits me. The little dot is the Boss himself. It was fantastic and this is how the concert started. This is one of my favorite Springsteen tunes. It never felt so appropriate.

What is a "Rising"? What constitutes one? Being here at this time and place feels like it must certainly be one. Everyone I have encountered has been so, for lack of a better word, "open" to what is going on around them. And it feels as if we are, together moving "upward". People from all walks of life, coming and going and smiling and laughing and living and hoping and loving and taking in the moment. Just taking it all in and wanting to be here. I'm honored to be here and grateful to be able to be part of this!

Oh, and I wore a pachyderm on my head all day.