Pre-Inauguration

About 2 weeks before the election, Michael came home with a thought. “You know”, he said, “If Obama actually manages to pull this off, it would be pretty incredible to be able to take the kids to the inauguration.” And thus started our journey. Two weeks later, I sat in front of the television, tears of joy and disbelief streaming down my face, with my laptop on my lap, a US Airlines reservation page with 4 tickets ready to be confirmed waiting in front of me. With all of us- Michael, Magnolia, Max, Nicole and Colleen sitting in the living room, waiting to exhale, Charlie Gibson said the words which changed history. Not pausing to wipe away the tears, I hit the button- SUBMIT.

We are so lucky. We are lucky to have won that election. We are lucky to have the means to fly to DC. We are lucky to be able to take the time off work and school. We are super lucky that 2 of our favorite people in the world happen to live right outside DC in a gigantic house with a guest suite and 2 kids the same ages as ours. We can’t even begin to count our blessings, we feel so lucky right now…and if we weren’t sure, today confirmed it.

We arrived on Saturday…the plane trip was uneventful, thankfully, because our arrival was a little bloody. Not our blood, but the blood of our host (now, that sounds Catholic) who, upon running to meet us inside, mistook the glass wall for a open space and split his head open. Several panicky cell phone calls, an enthusiastic EMT, a drive through Baltimore, dinner, and 6 stitches later, we were settled in to our east coast vacation home…feeling like we’ve never left.

Sunday was a day of cooking, eating, hanging out, laughing, cooking, eating, catching up, eating, and (for me and Michelle) an intense tear-jerking movie (Rachel Getting Married- excellent). Pretty much perfect. I know there was an incredible concert in the city, but honestly, with the 2 kids, we figured it was more than we could handle, so we stayed close to home. But Monday rolled around and we thought heading into the city would be good, if for nothing else than to have a trial run and get to see another good friend.

We met our friend Julie at the National Zoo and walked around for a few hours. The hippos were really fucking big…and the Zebras were just fucking. Snow was falling, but just in the novel sort of way, and we were plenty prepared. It was lovely. The zoo wasn’t very busy, but as we were walking back to the metro stop, we noticed the buses. Maybe 20 of them, in a row, all heading down the street we were on. Different charter companies- some with hints of their contents inside (Mariott Suites Inauguration delegation), all politely and resignedly inching their way down the bare tree lined street. In front of us, a group of teenagers kicking a piece of ice which they decided to try to kick all the way onto the subway, and behind us, groups of tourists with badges and nice outfits which didn’t keep them warm enough talking excitedly in groups about which balls they were attending.

We arrived at the subway station and I asked to wait a moment before going down, because I wanted to go and check out the vendors, who were being slammed by the folks coming off of those charter buses. I had decided I wanted to make a quilt to commemorate the event, and that I wanted to do it with a combination of t-shirts and photos, so I had to check out what my options were. I found a fantastic shirt for the center of the quilt, but it was sold out. When I asked if I could have the display, the first guy told me it was damaged, and I explained that I would be cutting off the center anyway, so he asked the owner of the booth, who sheepishly admitted that he wanted to keep it for himself. I went with my second choice, and managed to snag the last large…hoping tomorrow would present me with more options, and hopefully more inexpensively. But at least I have one. I got a few buttons too, at the request of my mother in law, and then we headed back down the gigantic escalator into the throes of folks heading all about the city for their individual celebrations.

Folks sporting all sorts of Obama gear, everyone talking to each other, asking how far they’d come, plans for Tuesday, strategies for dealing with the event, comparing garment bags filled with ball gowns, the energy was like nothing I had ever experienced. Above us, at Dupont Circle, we found out later, someone had made a giant balloon of soon to be former president Bush with a “Mission Accomplished” sign across his chest and people were hurling shoes at it. In the subway, from the signs on the train, to the billboards at every stop, to the happy chatter amongst the travelers, nothing seemed to matter anymore except the change and hope for the future that we all have.

We returned tonight, prepared and excited for tomorrow. As my kids would say, today was just the appetizer.