"Oh, I'll be there!" I respond to one of my customers who tells me that she will be taking her oldest children down to the National Mall in order to support the inauguration of our newly elected President Barack Obama.
I wouldn't miss it for the world. Honestly, I don't know how anyone that truly supported Barack Obama, and live in the Washington Metropolitan area couldn't. I mean seriously people really had no excuse to miss the momentous occasion.
I know I wouldn't be very close at all, but to me it was about being a part of the movement of change. People coming together to serve and show there voice in a movement of change. My cousins and I walked from his house in NW Washington D.C. down to the National Mall. That walk didn't kill us, it was still early, and we were pretty pumped.
Then, we hit our first roadblock. As we try to cross over into the National Mall, we are met with closed gates, metal detectors, national guardsmen, and police officers. As we stand in line for about fifteen minutes, I overhear a conversation with a man and his preteen daughter, the outcome crushed me. "When we were at the hotel, I decided that if we were standing outside for to long, that it would just be best for us to walk back to the hotel so we won't miss the swearing in." the Dad whispers to his daughter out of his wife's earshot. "You know that your Mom is going to be really upset, she had her heart set on seeing Obama," he continues. "Just tell her Dad!" the daughter responds, as if its that easy. Finally the Dad speaks to his wife, and surpringsly enough, the Mom didn't seem to upset. No less than 10 minutes pass--our line moves, and we all walk in. I felt terrible.
We walk into the security gates, and I see thousands of people everywhere. Everyone was soo positive. As cold as it was, I don't think I even remember hearing one person complain about the weather. I am snapping pictures left and right as our leader/s (that alpha thing kicked in, so the girls just chilled) directed us to the nearest jumbo-tron.
We made it just in time to see Biden and Obama being sworn in! The crowd was so elated. People were crying, hugging, kissing. All sorts of jubliation was happening. I was truly moved. Picking up after hearing his speech we headed towards the exit. One problem ---we couldn't get out. And that in itself, is an entirely different story, for next time.
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