Jan 27 2009
Obama Goes to Washington
I was supposed to have friends staying with me, but due to circumstances beyond anyone’s control, it didn’t work out that way. I got up around 6 & texted a friend to see when she was leaving to head downtown. She informed me that she was already downtown because she spent the night in a friend’s office building. I was resigned to staying home & watching the Inauguration via CNNHD which I already had my DVR set to record. She told me to get my wack behind up & head downtown. I took a deep breath & prepared myself for the ordeal I was sure to endure trying to get downtown. I hopped in the shower, then coated myself in petoleum jelly, even my face (OLD SCHOOL). I put on tights, leggings and sweatpants. Then 2 long sleeved shirts, my short sleeved Obama tee by Esface and my hooded sweatshirt. I put on my kneelength Ugg-like boots, a knitted hat, scarf, and a hooded wool coat. I had somehow found the time to browse the Metro website to kind of figure out some way to get downtown via bus. The news had already said that train station parking lots were shutting dow-own! After zig zagging all through NE, DC I arrived at 12th & K. I called my friend and she met me at 14th & I. She said that she and her friends were in line for security for the parade and we went to meet them.
When we got to the line, her friends were nowhere to be found. She called them and they apparently had moved really far really fast. And there was a rowdy bunch of spazzes shouting: “No cuts, no way!” even after we explained. By this time the END of the line was a block away. Unfortunately, we decided to still cut in line, don’t judge me! The main man yelling turned around & yelled “THEY CUT IN LINE! NO CUTS NO WAY”… but no one cared. My question was why did he care? we were BEHIND him! When we finally passed through security, we ended up in front of Freedom Plaza looking for the others but they were in the park in front of the Willard. By this time it was around 8. only 6 more hours until the parade BEGAN a mile and a half away. It was cold, but not freezing so we stood ther eon the hill in the park & enjoyed the people watching.
At this point, time seemed to swell & drag. We drank hot chocolate and laughed at some of the dumbest hats we have ever seen. There was a lady wearing a rug as pants and the entire rear end of Benji the dog on her head. There were various jester-type hats, including a family with stuffed lions and what appeared to be a taxidermied CHICKEN on theirs. They allowed some people spots on the sidewalk in front of the park, but we opted to stay put. A few minutes or hours later, we wer einformed they they were shutting down the park to secure it for protesters & we all had to make our way to the sidewalk. Luckily, we found a good spot at 15th & Pennsylvania. We stood there in front of the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department and waited. Then, it happened. The motorcade for the Heads of States and their families. We saw Barbara Bush, future-FLOTUS Michelle,and that devastatingly handsome future-POTUS Barack Obama! So after more of entertaining ourselves and nibbling on the granola bars my friend had squirreled away in her never ending pockets. We listened to the “soundtrack” of the Obama campaign o’er & o’er & o’er… at one point we broe out into the electric slide. We were surrounded by a group of caucasian people from Richmond and some hispanic folks from NJ. And we started the wave a few times. They broadcast the inauguration as heard on NPR. At noon, Mr. Obama had not yet been sworn in, but when they announced on NPR that George W. Bush was no longer President of the United States the streets erupted! After they announced Barack Obama as the next President of the United States. We screamed and shouted and screeeeeeamed.
We stood around for a few more minutes/hours and I had the bright idea to used good ole Sprint TV to watch CNN to see what was going on. My Instinct refused to stream, so we watched on my friend’s much smaller screen. We realized slowly that Ted Kennedy’s collapse was what was caused the delay at the luncheon It was amazing how everyone around us was operating as a family unit almost. We never exchanged names or anything, but we laughed & shared food & danced & huddled & watched each others streaming tv. When we found out about Ted Kennedy, and our spirits sank.
That’s when it happened, the sun went down & the hawk came out! The temperature dropped to about 10 degrees! I pulled my hat waaay down and my scarf waaaay up and turned into a faceless mass. Waiting. Each time we would start to leave, we would say: “Well, we’ve been here THIS long…” FINALLY, the parade began. We saw the fife & drum corps & a few other groups I wasn’t caring about, because I was HOPING that the President would WALK by because we were just one block from the White House. Not so. I saw him smiling and waving from his limousine, but I was not able toreally SEE him. 
But good old Joe Biden did not let us down! He was walking & waving and saying hello & we screeeeamed & screeeeamed. And that is when it happened.
We went home.
The protesters, LUCKILY, never showed up in the park. What would they have been protesting anyway? Likely something ignorant and useless and pointless and DISTRACTING from the historical & monumental occasion that is the inauguration of our first African-American President of the United States of America. I took the bus to Brookland station and hopped the red line home, it was less crowded by then. I came home and really thought about the ENORMITY of the event that I wasn’t even going to attend. I am glad my friend (who is actually a friend of a friend) made me get up & go & made sure I was there with her. I thought about how the things that had made me upset just the day before (which happened to be Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and my birthday) paled in comparison to what January 20th, 2009 meant. I watched clips of how the WORLD celebrated our decision. YES WE DID!
I know it took me a full week to write this & some people were looking forward to it. Post Inbloguration!
