Hello! I'm sorry for my absence the last few days but I promise I have a valid excuse. On Monday I was fortunate enough to witness history by attending President Obamas Inauguration. It was probably one of the most exhausting/amazing days of my life. Yet in the end to watch the President literally walk right by me was worth standing in the cold for 12 hours.
Lets take a look at some of the photos shall we? Then I promise to get back to the music. (I have some people's work sanity depending on me...)
This is me standing on line to get through security at 5:15 in the morning. Yes we were those people who left our hotel at the crack of dawn to stand on line for security gates that were set to open around 7am. We knew it would be a long day, yet our motto was go big or go home. So we were there with bells on. We had decided in advance to go to just the parade knowing that to do both would be nearly impossible, not to mention that we wouldn't have gotten a good seat at the parade. So here we were. Bright and early ready and waiting. Good thing was that my family and are are pretty friendly so we made friends everywhere we went. Helped pass the time to hear everyone's stories on why it was important for them to be there.
After staking out an early spot and sitting there for hours we were unfairly removed so that security could make a "press box". The quick thinker that I am begged them to upgrade us to a bleacher area because well, it was only fair. Luckily they agreed and hooked us up with amazing tickets to the bleachers on 12th street. This would give us a great view for the parade not to mention a much needed seat. So we were quite happy with the move. Especially with what we saw next. The parade started right around 2:30 and we could hear the rumblings in the crowd that the President and his wife were out of the car and walking already! Would they make it to us? Would this all be worth it?
Oh shit. Here they are. Before we knew it they were literally walking right in front of us. My mother was screaming so loud I thought my eardrums were going to pop. People were waiving, crying, screaming. It was an unreal moment to see the President that close. Oh wait you want closer? Because he did come closer!!!
Bam! The President literally stopped in front of our stands and sat there and waived right at us. Again unbelievable moment. I was speechless at this point. Either that or I had already screamed so much my voice was practically horse. After waiving right at us, him and Michelle got back in the car and drove off. If we were one more block down we would have missed him. Luck was on our side!
Next came VP Biden and his wife Jill. And I could have sworn in this picture he is looking at me. Right? Right? Joe was hilarious to watch work the crowd. He was haming it up the entire way and I loved every minute of it. You could tell that this is a man who has been in politics for a really long time and he knows that it has finally paid off. He was having the time of his life, and well good for him. I can't say I wouldn't be doing the same if I had a parade for me.
This is the picture we took right after the President and VP came by. As you can tell by the smiles on our face that we were happy campers. We pulled it off. Not sure how, but we did. We stayed until the very end of the parade. It was about 6:30 pm when we actually left the route. So that is a solid 12 hours standing on Pennsylvania Ave. Didn't know I had it in me. Yet if I could see what I saw again, I would gladly wait another 12.
Some people may never understand why my family and I did this. Why we felt it was so important to witness history on this scale. But as someone who has done her fair share both protesting and working for our government it was a moment for me that I will never forget. I will have these pictures and stories to tell for a lifetime. It sounds crazy but I have never felt more patriotic in my entire life. I was and always will be proud to be an American.
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