Last Friday afternoon was not a convenient time for a parade, at least not for me. My editor was waiting for me to finish an editorial on the remarkable landing of a US Airways jetliner in the Hudson River. I was trying to hustle through the work day to make it to a family obligation.

But the parade was a half block from my office. How could I not take part?

So I played a mental game with myself. If I get half of this editorial written, I will go. If I don't, I'll watch the parade from the window of my office.

But then I kept seeing buses and city police on motorcycles. A sea of red-clad U. fans was growing larger before my eyes. It became an irresistible impulse.

So I went and it was a blast. In fact, it was one of the happiest places I've been in a long time.

No one was fretting over the economy or whether his or her job was secure. No was thinking about war in the Middle East. It was an occasion to check our worries at the curb and cheer on the Utes, Swoop, the MUSS, the marching band and U. President Michael K. Young.

No one was much thinking about the cold. For a few glorious moments, a few thousand of my newfound friends and I were centrally focused on the University of Utah's perfect season and its Sugar Bowl victory.

It was a day when a No. 2 ranking in college football felt a lot more like No. 1.

As the parade wound to a close, I asked the stranger next to me, "How fun was that?"

He replied, "Yeah, that was great! That was a lot of fun."

Every single person I talked to at that parade was on a sugar high. There are few occasions in life to celebrate the perfect season. Even though the Utes have accomplished that twice in recent years, these events were somehow sweeter. Coach Kyle Whittingham had finally emerged from Urban Meyer's shadow. He and his players had silenced the critics.

I'm not normally so ebullient about parades. I've been in parades and covered a lot of them as a reporter. The only parade story that I can even remember was about some horses, spooked by a balloon, that bolted through a crowd, triggering something of a human-animal stampede. Talk about high drama.

So Friday's experience took me by surprise, particularly since I am not a native Utahn nor did I attend college in Utah.

Perhaps it was such a stark contrast to all of the other stressors Americans are experiencing right now. We all needed a reason to cheer. Gratefully, the U. football team gave us that.

It was also a treat to see the U. marching band, which will march in today's Inaugural Parade in Washington, D.C. The community should take great pride that it scrambled to raise sufficient funds for the trip.

Today, the nation will observe the inauguration of the 44th president of the United States. Our new President Barack Obama will take the oath of office. While the inauguration of a president is always consequential, these events are particularly significant. Obama will rest his hand on the Lincoln Bible as he takes the oath of office. The symbolism is off the charts.

Perhaps Americans who have felt disenfranchised will view that moment as their collective occasion of inclusion — that they're no longer on the outside looking in, that they have a rightful place at the parade.

Marjorie Cortez, who expects to be moved to tears when President-elect Obama is sworn into office today, is a Deseret News editorial writer. E-mail her at Marjorie@desnews.com