50 Quarters

Today, I got the Hawaii state quarter, thus completing my 50 state quarter collection. It's a little weird to think I've been collecting state quarters for around ten years at this point; I'm not 100% sure when I started, but definitely by March 2000 at the latest. Having only 5 quarters released per year meant it was a slow task and, by my rules, not very active.

I decided when I started to collect them, that the quarters had to come to me, either in change, or from someone I knew. At the end of 2003, with my 23rd quarter, Maine, I started writing down when I got them. Looking back, I see some years I only got 4 quarters, which undoubtedly enhances the feeling of inactivity for the quest. Last year, I actually got 6, but not the final Hawaii coin. It was released November 3, 2008, so not bad, time-wise.

I don't have one of those maps for my quarters, either. Just a tin with some buttons and other items (so that is where my whistle is!). Maybe someday I'll do something else with them, but right now the collector part of me is pretty pleased to be done!

Snow!

It's been flurrying on and off for much of the day. This snow is what Seattle snow should always be: drifting lovely through the air and then melting on the ground; like true Seattle rain, a non-event. A small amount had accumulated before I left the house at 9:30 this morning, but it was on the cars and lawns, not the roads and sidewalks.

It's nice to have this reminder that snow doesn't have to be paralyzing. Plus, I always feel that if it is going to be cold outside, there may as well be snow to go along with it!

I have realized over the past few weeks that there is something besides snow that says "Winter" to me: cold sunny days. Like snow, these are not terribly common in Seattle, but this year we have been below 40 seemingly more than usual. Seeing the bare trees against the clear blue sky hit a "It's Winter" spot that has not been hit in years, and probably the last time I experienced it was not in Seattle.

W.

I had a thought last week about trying to organize an Irish wake or New Orleans funeral-type event to mark the last full day of the Bush administration, but my birthday festivities last weekend were enough for awhile.

It is amazing that we have lived the past eight years with W as our president. For me, I know I've spend too much of that time in denial about how awful he is since there really wasn't anything I could do about it. How was it he never got impeached? Is that a short-coming of the Democratic party that no one was willing to try?

I am so relieved that it is finally over. Maybe someday I'll be able to watch Oliver Stone's movie and gain some perspective but right now, I am so happy I won't have to have him "actively" in my life.

There was a point last summer when I realized that I would be happy with either candidate running for the Presidency, even if John McCain seemed a sell-out of the man I voted for in the primaries of 2000. (Then, of course, he chose Palin and it did really matter that the Democrats won this one!)

I am amazed at the excitement about tomorrow's inauguration. I can't recall people making the effort for the swearing in of a President this way. It's a wonderful thing to see in a democracy. Perhaps some of the credit goes to W, who ignited democratic forces in this country if not elsewhere in the world. But most of the credit is due to the historic nature of Barack Obama, America's first President of color.

Last spring, I was skeptical that Obama could win. I feared that America was still too racist a nation to elect a black man to the Presidency. What a thrill to be wrong! (although there is still a fear he won't make it through his term(s) since he is such a historic figure.)

But now, let's take a moment and breathe a sigh of relief that W's reign of ineptitude is almost over. We survived, even if so much of what we love about America suffered. Sláinte!