What a DAY!!!

You probably saw the pictures, you watched the inauguration... it was truly an amazing day. We were able to get on the Metro at Brookland at 8AM.... crowded, yes, but we were on. Everyone on the train was excited and feeling so good that this day had finally come. The train stopped between stations ..... an announcement asking people to step away from the door came on... ominously stating that if this didn't happen, the train would be evacuated ..... finally a Metro worker ran down the platform toward another car.... fixed the problem and we were on our way.
At Union Station 90% of passengers got off the train. But not us. We had been working on our exit strategy for a long long time... we were leaving today.... had to exit the National Mall and DC and get to Dulles airport.... so we had opted for the Lincoln Memorial end of the Mall... farthest from the Capitol where President Barack Obama would be sworn in. We knew there were jumbotrons in this area (the We are One Concert was at the Lincoln on Sunday) and we would be able to leave by walking over the Arlington Memorial Bridge.... but for now we just wanted to be able to get there.

We took the Metro to Farragut North which would have us just 1 mile from the Mall and hopefully with many fewer people. As we came above ground there were many many people but the streets were closed to cars. There was a military hummer/jeep and a few National Guardsmen just making sure that cars with certain folks (government workers, police, VIPs)
could get thru when necessary ... but mostly ... the streets belonged to the people. Thousands of people.
We went with the flow for a block or two, but most folks were going toward the Mall on 17th or 18th and as we looked down 18th toward the Mall at I street, you could see a block or 2 long back up of people. There were security checkpoints at that part of the Mall and we just did not need to get involved in that. We opted to continue toward the Potomac River and use 21st or 23rd Street as our way to the Mall. As we continued West, most walkers were going East... I had the feeling that we were the salmon swimming upstream, but I was confident that our plan was quite different than most peoples so we continued on. We walked thru parts of George Washington University campus, saw many DC cops on motorcycles, government security people at many buildings, parking lots and anyone, truly anyone we asked for fine tune directions, or advice was polite, friendly, helpful in ways you can not believe. We all felt very proud of the way Washington DC was handling this incredible event.

We were beginning to get closer to the Mall.... We could see a few people on the Mall in the area of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, but not the thousands we had been seeing walking. Most were still going toward the East (the Capitol) and that was not the direction we were going. At last we were on the Mall, and walked past the Vietnam Vets Memorial as we walked toward the Lincoln Memorial. Suddenly I noticed that some of the jumbotrons from Sunday's concert were no longer there!!... OMG were they all gone... had our plan been a bust.... but no... there was 1 large jumbotron on the south side of the Lincoln Memorial near the Korean War Memorial. We were able to get over there and found ourselves about 50-70 feet from the jumbo screen. There were many people, but not the crush of folks we had spent the concert with on Sunday. There were actually benches still available but none that would not have us too far to the left and then distort the images on the screen.. so we decided we could sit on the ground for a while, knowing that once the inauguration began we would all be standing for the entire time anyway. Folks were excited, there were shouts and cries of 'O B A M A'.... smiles all around. People hugging one another

They were showing the 'We are One' Concert and it was great to experience again where you could really see the jumbotron (we were much further away on Sunday) and hear the singers and speakers.... I got up and walked around to see how big the crowds has gotten. There were still hundreds of folks streaming towards the Washington Monument, but we were happy and secure in our choice. Close to a screen, with an easy exit, no security to worry about... and really not a crushing crowd to deal with. It was 9:40AM on January 20, 2009. A little over 2 hours before Barack H. Obama would be sworn in as the 44th president of the United States of America. Can you believe it!!...
Everyone exuberant, smiling, happy, cold and bundled up serious hats, gloves, scarfs and of course, long underwear .. it was close to 20°F with the wind chill factor.. it was windy... but not as bad as Saturday... it actually felt pretty good.

Then it began...... The San Francisco Boys Choir and Girls Chorus.... they sang quite a few songs and looked great in their red hats and scarfs ( I wondered if they would donate to an inner city school here in DC--or just take as a memento of their inaugural trip) Dianne Feinstein, our senior Senator did California and herself quite proud. A wonderful speech..... and she introduced and ran the show....

The feeling in the crowd was one of exhileration, respect, people did shush others who wanted to add the negative feelings when some people came on the screen, but for the most part, everyone just wanted to feel the love, the compassion, the change that was palpable.. the exuberance, the justice of finally being a grown up country that could choose someone based on their abilities, their character (and Obama's grace and dignity and genuine humility and joyousness were so evident in every shot of him that people could not stop smiling and feeling grateful to this man who has obviously touched something in so many people around the country and the entire world.