Phew. President Biden made it. Meanwhile, Trump left on Air Force One to the huge speaker playing Sinatra’s My Way. Jeez. You couldn’t write this stuff.

But anyhow, it’s done. We enjoyed watching the inauguration. I may have got a little wet-eyed when JLo sang, ‘This Land is Your Land,’ by Woody Guthrie. Such an old song. I mean, old in the sense that we’d sing it at school. To me, moving to America at three-years old, it’s almost a nursery rhyme.

Another admission. Before JLo came on, we were a tiny bit worried.

‘Hopefully, she’ll do some dancing as well,’ Lu said. As as overall performer JLo is amazing, but only as a singer?

Wow. JLo’s voice was surprising in its simple sweetness. ‘From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters.’ Her whole performance resonated with pitch-perfect, honest emotion. Ooff.

And what of President Biden? I haven’t heard too much of his own voice before. The news we listen to on Quest is always from the U.K. – and usually in summary form. I hadn’t realised what a calm whisper this man has. That guy could pacify a bear. No need of course. The bear has left the building. I know politics is erroneous, but from a purely sensory perspective, I will enjoy listening to President Biden. Let’s see what happens to his words.

Talking about words, my mum wrote to me this morning. ‘Can you please include your Uncle Tomek in your blog today? He always reads it and it’s his birthday.’

‘What do you want me to write?’ I shook my head. Suddenly I’m a writer for sale?

‘I know!’ she shot back. ‘Tell the story when we were kids and Ela and I were paying little attention to him as we had each other and he was so keen to play with us. So one day we leashed him to the chair in our playroom to keep him happy – and went out. Ciocia Roma (your grandmother’s sister) came back from work and found him there and asked in surprise what was he doing, to which he replied proudly, “Be quiet Ciocia, I am a dog guarding the house!”

I scratched my head. ‘Are you sure he’d want to read this story?’

The phone pinged. I hadn’t even had my morning coffee. Definitely not the second one.

‘It depends how you tell it.’

Hmm. Little Tomek so desperate to play with his sisters, he’d play the role of a tied-up dog?

‘Are you sure it’s just the way I tell it?’

He is of course, my hero. Tomek is always there. The smarter one, he’s pretty quiet. When he speaks, it’s like a small miracle. We always listen. I like thinking about the night in Poland a few years ago where Lulu managed to lock my grandmother’s bathroom door – with the key inside the bathroom.

Who came with a locksmith at 10pm? Were we relieved to be able to be relieved! Yep, Tomek always shows us the way… apparently tied-up or not. Happy Birthday to our hero 💕.