This morning I experienced a familiar feeling while watching the news on TV.
In 1991 we took a cruise of the Baltic just days after the fall of the Soviet Union. The highlight of the trip, of course, was the stop in Leningrad. We'd planned the trip a year earlier. When the Soviet Union fell, we were told that we might not be able to stop in Leningrad and that if things were highly unsettled, we would not even be able to go into the Baltic. As it turned out, 2 days before we left here we were told everything was okay, and we would be visiting Leningrad.
We were not prepared for what we saw when we got there, the flag of old Russia flying in place of the Soviet Union flag. We'd seen a number of ships flying the Soviet flag in Stockholm, the stop before Leningrad, and because of that, we didn't expect to see anything different in Leningrad.
And by the time we left, the name of the city had been changed back to St. Petersburg. It was a very exciting and emotional time for us.
And that brings me to this morning. That feeling came back to me as I watched Barack Obama and his family in the voting booth this morning. I was surprised to feel so moved.
Something momentous is happening today.
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