It’s been a happy coincidence that along with all the inaugural activities and excitement this week I’ve also been listening to the soundtrack of “Hamilton.” Since that Broadway musical has long since moved from smash-hit to iconic status, I feel like one of the last people to the parade … but hey, at least I made it!

To walk, dance and bounce to songs like “Satisfied,” “My Shot” and “You’ll Be Back” is to be reminded of all that this great country has to offer — the creativity, the humor, the jumble of life all packed into two-and-a-half-plus hours. 

But it was the four years ahead that was mostly on my (and most everyone else’s) mind yesterday. There was the call for unity and sacrifice that I hoped Biden would make. There were stirring marches and anthems and invocations. There was President Biden saying, “We have never ever ever ever failed when we have acted together,” to which late-night host Stephen Colbert later joked, “Someone clearly never saw the “Cats” movie.

But, kidding aside (and it feels luxurious to be silly), yesterday’s big happening was a four-Kleenex event for me, unexpectedly moving — and listening to “Hamilton” just amplified it.