At 11:15, yesterday, my family gathered on our couch. I held my laptop in my lap and we streamed footage of President Obama's Inauguration through the BBC. The coverage was excellent. I'll skip describing all of our adult reactions. There was the weeping and hooting and revering silence shared by the rest of the nation.

I think the two most poignant people of yesterday were Malia and Sasha. And Henry and Riley. And all the rest of the children of the world. It staggers me, this is their generation. Look, Hope.

The camera ceaselessly panned the steps of the Capital Building. I kept pointing for the children, "That man there, Al Gore. There is Barbara Bush. There, that snake rolling along in a wheel chair? Forget his name. There are Bill and Hillary." Until finally Riley said, "Do you wish you were there, Mom?" But I did not want to be there. I wanted to be right on the couch surrounded by my family, in our house. I wanted to feel the change rolling through our common and simple home. I wanted to sit and contemplate how this will impact our children's future. I wanted the space and quietude to squeeze my son's hand when President Obama said that we will harness the sun, wind, and earth to create energy, jobs, and freedom from our sick dependence on (what exactly were his words?) energy that depletes us, and to feel Henry squeeze back. He took it all in. And Ry, between me and her Daddy, drenched in reverence.

The children sat perfectly still for over an hour. They will never forget that moment. They were pinned, affixed, located, squared, anointed, saturated, steeped. Look, Hope.

I love that we gathered around a laptop. As our view of the moment was filmed from an international perspective. This is their future, global, pin pointed, and small. Poetically, every person's common experience, equals all of history, as personal as the words on our lips, brimming. We used the smallest amount of energy with our computer. And it physically drew us in and close together. We huddled there around the bright flame of Obama. Look, Hope.