Just one of the many perks of living in D.C.

Sorry for all the local friends who don't really care about seeing my inauguration photos or hearing about my day in the city, but my family and out-of-town friends have requested some details and I figured the blog was the easiest place to do this. Feel free to skip this post if you're on Obama Overload.

One of the many perks of living in D.C. is the fact that I didn't have to pay an arm and a leg to rent a hotel room in D.C. for inauguration. (The downside is that I pay an arm and a leg to live here year-round.) I live just about 5 miles from my office, which is directly across the street from the White House. It's pretty neat. Sometimes I forget how great it is to live in such a place. But this week I was reminded as I watched tour bus after tour bus invade our town in the tourist off-season.

Because of our awesome office location, we always have a huge party for our clients for inauguration. I worked last time. I was supposed to go to work this time. But my boss couldn't decide whether or not he wanted/needed me. Ultimately he left it up to me. I was conflicted up until the moment I met up with my friends to catch a bus into the city. Once we got into the city and on the wrong side of the mall, I knew I was committed to not going to work and started to feel really excited about the day!

I'm a local, therefore I do not need signs like this one to tell me which way to go.

Also, I look super fat in this picture because I have wool socks and emergency food hiding in my puffy coat.

As we approached 14th St., I decided to turn around and see what was behind us. I couldn't believe how many people had streamed in after us (the crowd in front of us wasn't nearly as thick and compact).

This is the scene we were greeted with as soon as we turned onto 14th St. We were playing the lemming game, basically just following the hoardes of people to wherever they were letting us onto the mall. You couldn't really see anything so you had to trust that someone was driving the boat. Dangerous assumption.

I was with about 7 or 8 friends at this point and Friend Mary, ever the organizer, created a chain to get us into the crowd together. Let's just take a moment here to acknowledge my fairly severe claustrophobia. I'm not sure what I was thinking (the last time I ignored a warning from an organization regarding event conditions I ended up in a medical tent with hypothermia...you'd think I'd learn), but I wasn't really anticipating the crush to be SO bad. I was fine until it required me to sort of pop through the crowd with the aid of my slippery puffy coat. When I looked up and saw how many people were surrounding me, the rushing in my ears began, along with some hyperventilation, followed by wave after wave of nausea and the absolute surety that I was going to die. Soon. All it would take, I thought, was one moment of panic in the crowd, one pipe bomb, one bomb scare even, and a stampede would ensue, and surely I would be one of the fallen. Then, the worst happened. Katie and I got separated (we were supposed to be travel buddies). I managed to turn around and give Jay a look of panic, who in turn informed Katie that I was in trouble. Katie gave me the "secret call" (which would have been funny in any other situation) and then barrelled through the crowd to get to me. After a little water, a little food, a tiny bit of personal space, some prayers, a miracle phone call to Mom, more prayers, more tears, and a game of gin rummy, I managed to take out my camera to document what had me all panicked.

That front-and-center guy who looks very intimidating was actually very nice and my best bodyguard. He was no shorter than 6'6". The woman next to him in the green beenie was awesome. She had on this very impressive green eyeshadow that matched her Obama beenie along with enormous false eyelashes.

This is me pretending I'm really happy to be standing where I am. You can see in this picture just how tall my "bodyguard" was. There was an equally tall man standing in front of me as well. Bless them. Tender mercies, people.

Once I regained my senses, I was able to more fully take in my surroundings. We were surrounded by very excited, very exuberant Obama supporters. The majority of our new friends were African Americans. I am optimistic about this presidency and it felt good to be there knowing that the guy I voted for won. But to see their excitement and to feel of their energy, I knew that it included a whole other dimension I would never know. I know what it feels like to be marginalized as a woman, but have never known what it feels like to have race added on top of that. I know that much has already been said on this topic, but I was moved to see what this meant for them.

We had to stand in the cold for about 3 hours but everything but my feet stayed pretty warm (thermal garments+puffy coat=warmth). I was highly entertained by the two prayers offered, thrilled to "hear" Yo-Yo Ma "live" (you can't expect instruments to perform well in that kind of weather. I don't blame them for dubbing their performance), and appalled by the lack of respect for President Bush when he was announced (I mean, I didn't love him as a president but I am going to clap out of respect for enduring a hard, crummy job for 8 years).

Beginning of political talk--After the bobbled swearing-in, I waited anxiously to hear what our new president would have to say to us. I wondered if he would give into soaring rhetoric or if it would be a speech rooted in action. I think it was a mixture of both. I know a lot of people took issue with what was said, but I was both impressed and moved by his words. I felt like he managed expectations, said some hard things, and put a lot of responsibility on the people. Some said that was a cop-out given the campaign he ran, but I don't think so. Our country is only as good as its people. We do need to step up. I can honestly say that it was the first time I can remember being moved to tears by a secular speech. I may not agree with all of his politics, but I had the impression as he spoke that he is the right man for us right now. You may not agree with me and that's okay, but it's my blog and I can say what I want. :P --End of political talk.

One of my fears during my panic was how we were going to get out of that mess. Katie assured me we would wait until the crowds died down before we attempted the walk home. But it was COLD. So we spent some time in front of the Washington monument getting the blood back in our feet.

Still too crowded to walk home.

We decided to take some pictures. :)

Someone came along and offered to take one of all 5 of us. Then a few people came along and took our picture with their cameras. A little weird, but kind of funny.

This is my favorite one of the bunch, mostly because my friend Dave has some serious air and style. He says it's because of his ballet training. :)

All in all, it was a great experience. I don't know if I will ever brave the mall again for inauguration, but I can tell my children and grandchildren that I was there at least once for a peaceful transfer of power (from a white man to a black man no less). You've got to admit, that's pretty cool.