As I was sitting at my desk today I realized it was January 20, the day the newly elected president gets sworn in every four years. No president is getting sworn in today, but seeing the date reminded me of this day five years before.

I cannot remember another day in my lifetime that brought so much hope to so many people. The inauguration of Barack Obama was a landmark day in American history. I never believed that I would see an African-American president in my lifetime, and I know that most of my African-American friends would (and did) say the same thing.

At that time I worked in an office where more than 60% of my coworkers were African-American. We all stopped working to watch the president take the oath of office, and there were more than a few tears as it took place.

The day after election day had been rowdy in the office, but this was much more significant and solemn. One of my friends, as she cried, said, “It’s really happening.” It was almost as if she could not believe it until she saw the oath of office administered.

As a person who remembers the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, it was amazing and humbling to see this result only a little more than forty years later. I know that forty years sounds like a long time, but that is rapid progress. Not rapid enough, but faster than I ever thought could happen.

What I remember most about the rest of that day is going to the Houston Rockets basketball game that night against the Utah Jazz. I’m sure the game was exciting and I seem to remember that the Rockets won the game. But what I most remember is the National Anthem before the game and the way the people in the Toyota Center were singing along. I wasn’t in New York after September 11, but I have never been part of a sports crowd singing the Star-Spangled Banner with more gusto than what I heard that night.

Something was different. Everything was different.