It’s difficult to describe all the different emotions that have passed over me the past few days. There’s an overwhelming sense that something is different; I’m sure it feels that way every time a new president is inaugurated.

I wouldn’t know. This is the first presidential transition I’ve lived to remember. I have no memories to compare it to. When Obama was elected, I remember watching the television with my parents. I remember my dad being so happy, so proud, so relieved.

I didn’t feel that way; I didn’t know what it meant. I was born into a period of intense political turmoil. My birth was a little over a year before 9/11. All I’ve ever known was the fact that it takes forever to get through airport security; all I’ve ever felt was the looming threat of terrorism, thousands of miles away.

Despite all that, I have grown up during Obama’s presidency. I may not remember his election, his 2009 inauguration, or even much of his first term. However, I’ve felt his presence. I’ve been lucky enough to only live through the times where women’s health care was easily accessible, when the wage gap was presented as fact, when climate change was not only real but a cause worth fighting for. Obama’s protection has been looming through every scary part of my life. I saw his dedication to protecting the environment when I visited Acadia National Park for the first time as a second grader. I felt his advocacy for LGBT rights when I had my first crush on a girl in the fifth grade. I experienced his devotion to making women’s healthcare accessible when I had to buy my own feminine hygiene products with my babysitting money in seventh grade. I have lived under Barack Obama’s umbrella of equality for every day I can remember.

And so the rain has come. Now I realize what adults have dealt with for decades. They have lived through many presidents, those they agreed with and those they did not. I will too. I will live through President Donald Trump, no doubt. I will stand in the rain.

But I will not let it drown me. I will open my own umbrella. I am ready to fight for everything Obama fought for. I will stand up for the rights I took for granted as a kid. Because somewhere, a second grader camping out at Acadia National Park deserves to take that beauty for granted. Somewhere, a fifth grade girl having her first crush on another girl deserves to take that right for granted. Somewhere, in this country, a seventh grade girl buying her own feminine hygiene products for the first time, with her babysitting money for god’s sake, deserves to take that ability for granted. And for those of us who grew up with those rights, it’s time to do our part in preserving them.

So please, let’s open our own umbrella. For those who can’t yet, who aren’t even aware of the rain yet, aren’t aware of the storm, aren’t aware of the tidal wave about to crash on top of us. Let’s stand in the rain and dare ourselves not to drown.

Josie Adolf is 16 years old and a Brunswick resident.