Inauguration Day 2009

I consider myself to be EXTREMELY blessed. Sometimes in the day-in day-out of life, even the most extraordinary things can start to seem mundane… and then something happens to snap you out of it. In my case, I often forget how amazing it is that I live in DC and have a job that I love but was brought back to a sense of awe about my life when I got the opportunity to go to the Inauguration Ceremony yesterday. It was amazing and wonderful and CRAZY!

After spending MLK day off shopping for gloves, ear muffs, and hand warmers (which were all surprisingly difficult to find… I guess everyone had the same idea) I dropped Kami and Diana off at the metro and then headed over to Tabbi’s, where I spent the night. We got up at 5 AM and were at the metro by 5:45. It was a good thing that we went in early – the metro wasn’t too bad on the way in, but inside the district, things got crazy! It took me 45 minutes just to get out of the station and then another 45 to walk the few blocks to the orange ticket line! At 7 AM the streets were already crowded with people and I had to squish along the sides of buses and buildings just to get through.

The ceremony didn’t start until 10-10:30 and the swearing-in didn’t start till nearly 12, so I spent a lot of time out in the cold freezing my tush off! I got a really good seat though, so it was worth it! In the picture below you will see a long walkway on the left. I was at about the 4^th tree.

My favorite parts of the ceremony were a) Aretha Franklin because she’s still got it and b) Obama’s speech and the fact that speeches like that aren’t just pretty words to me any more – I know the historical and policy implications of what is being said and that knowledge thrills me! Here you can see Obama being sworn in – well that’s what’s happening in the picture anyways – all you can really see is Michelle Obama in her lime colored dress. (Fashionistas – please don’t judge me for my inability to describe colors well) My camera is great, but it has really bad zoom. Even with the zoom things still look further away than they really are!

After the Inauguration I ran into some friends and we headed closer to the podium to get some pictures and we ran into Samuel L. Jackson. His bodyguard saw us standing there and motioned to us to come over for a picture. He said “Mr. Jackson, these ladies would like to take a picture with you.” SLJ was like, “I know what they want – they want to put me on their my space page!” But au contraire, Mr. Jackson – I am putting you on the crowning jewel of my online world – THE BLOG!

After that we headed up to a reception on the hill and on the way there I saw President Uchtdorf walking just ahead of me. Anyone who knows me realizes this is a dream for me – talking with President Uchtdorf auf Deutsch. So with a little nudge (or possibly a shove) from a friend, I walked up to him and was like – “Hi, Elder Uchtdorf, how are you.” The whole situation was somewhat awkward, what with me accosting him on the street and all, but he was really nice and I explained that I served my mission in Germany and we then had a little chat in German and he introduced me to his wife, who was there also. I was so nervous that I couldn’t remember even the simplest German and was pretty stressed for awhile that I had used terrible grammar – but I checked it when I got home and it was correct after all – whew!!

After the reception we headed back, grabbed some dinner, and gave Kami, Diana, and Tim a ride home since they had to walk back into Virginia on the 14^th Street Bridge. Once home, we did the only appropriate thing – CRASHED!

So that was my Inaugural Experience. I am so grateful to have been able to be there for this moment in history. I remember sitting in my classroom in 2^nd or 3^rd grade – we had the pictures of all of the Presidents of the United States lining the ceiling and I would always look up at them and wonder why we didn’t have any women or black presidents. I asked once why and was told that it just hadn’t happened yet, but that it could, so I asked when my teacher thought it would and she said she didn’t think it would happen in her lifetime. Now I don’t know if she lived to see it or not (but she was pretty young so let’s assume she did) but I am amazed at the power of ideas. Just about 50 years ago we still had segregation, but by affirming the idea of equality and teaching it to the next generation, those walls were broken down faster than anyone could have imagined. Now it is our generation’s turn to look at our world, determine what we need to change to make the world a better place, and make it happen!