The Journey is Half the Battle

After our 45 minute nap, the sun is rising and most people in the silver section of the Inaugural crowd are already standing in place. Our silver tickets are with us and most of us are not dressed yet. We didn't leave the house until about 7:30am, but the adventure to get to our spots would prove eventful. The first task at hand was to get to the Capitol. With traffic blocked off we drove as close as we could to the Metro and took it all the way into the city. Luckily everyone was already at the inauguration so it wasn't as crowded as it could have been. Even the train ride was full of laughs that were shared with the entire cart. Our group had all passengers within ear shot laughing and joining in our festive spirits. From deportation jokes to "special paper" we were laughing all the way. Now came the difficult part – finding our line! The men had the women stand in one area until they figured everything out. It was cold as all heck standing there and we slowly migrated to the area with the most sun. Either way, this plan proved to be a very good idea. When the men finally found their place in line the next task was to get the women in line with them. Walking through the line wasn’t an option so over the rail we went.
Instead of hindering our efforts the crowd supported us by making a way. The men even helped a few women over the rail as they attempted to get out of the incorrect line. Ultimately, the men’s efforts proved successful. We found our correct line which was more important than I originally thought.

About 40% of the people in the lines were going backwards b/c they were in the wrong line. This is not a good thing when each line is about ½ a mile long (no joke) and you are in the front of one line proceeding to the back of another. This wasn’t good for those people, but it was great for us. As they moved back we exchanged our spots for theirs and were able to slither through the crowd. I say ‘slither’ because that is exactly what we did. We locked up (linked arms) and slithered like a snake through the crowd. The men made sure that there was a man in the front, one near the center and one at the end. Our fearless leader took us through thousands of people, smoothed over the police holding the line and got us to within 50 feet of where we were supposed to be.

At that point we could see our section, but there were a few small fences holding us back. Not for long! The crowd eventually rushed those fences and screamed yelps of freedom. It was all in good fun and no one was vicious. The police eventually ceased their efforts to control the crowd and simply asked everyone to “Please be careful, Have fun!” There were chants of “Yes we can”, “Free the people!”, and “Obama 08!” All we could do was laugh and rush with the crowd. To prove the friendly efforts of the crowd I remember one incident as we rushed. One of our group members fell during the stampede and 2 complete strangers immediately formed a human barricade around her and helped her up. Before disappearing into the crowd – and into history – they told her to be careful. We muscled through the crowd and were about 10 feet from the front of the section when the ‘snake’ finally collapsed and we were separated into two groups. After thousands of people and seemingly miles of travel we broke up with only a few feet to go! It was cool though. Any necessity to proceed immediately ceased as the amplifiers signaled the start of the ceremony. Eventually our place in line didn’t matter as much as our place in history and all eyes, ears, cameras, recording devices and attentions were focused forward to capture the commencement of my most inspirational US ceremonies to date.