Emotion where I didn't expect it

I am really excited for all that today means for our country. I have no idea if any President can remotely live up to the expectations placed on this one. That's really beside the point, and not what this post is about at all.

When I read this story about President and First Lady Bush leaving Washington for good and watched the accompanying video: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/INAUGURATION_BUSH?SITE=MOSTP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-01-20-14-41-49, I got verklempt. I actually shed tears. I was really surprised. I knew that I liked the guy as stated in an earlier post, but I didn't expect to get emotional when this presidency came to an end. So here are a few reasons that I think this may have happened:

-George W. Bush was the first person that I voted for in a presidential election. So with the end of his presidency, my first era of political participation officially comes to a close.

-I was probably looking for a reason to cry today and this was my first chance (since I'm saving watching the speech for tonight).

-As incredibly tired as I get about hearing 9/11 bantered about as political rhetoric, the truth is that it was a moment in which our nation changed. For the better? Nope. Just changed. He was the center of much of our emotion related to that crisis - good and then bad.

-I feel awful for the Bush family. No person deserves what he has been dished in the past eight years. Yes, he's aged 16 years in the same amount of time. Any person would. Maybe they were tears of relief for an embattled family who finally gets a little respite.

-My worst case scenario for why the tears came is this. I really believe that President Bush believed what he promised in his campaign and in the years since. I believe his intentions were good and that he thought he was doing what was best for our nation. Yet look where we are now. Maybe my tears are for our broken hopes and dreams that came with the last eight years. I can only hope that the next presidency will inspire tears of a different sort.

Regardless of the reason, I am happy to see them go home to Texas. Politicians and commentators will have to actually deal with facts and problems rather than dumping everything into the laps of Bush and Cheney. Again, I'm not saying they didn't deserve some of it. I'm just saying, I am so glad that I don't have to hear any more (who am I kidding? as much) Bush bashing.

I am really and truly hopeful that this next chapter in American history will be as bright as we can imagine. For now, I will simply enjoy the momentary unity that seems to exist for most people in the possibility that is America.